A Mexican national who was deported from the U.S. after serving 11 years in prison for the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jorge Salomon-Martinez in 2003 was apprehended after he illegal re-entered the United States Sunday.
Border Patrol agents in the Tucson Sector arrested Francisco Javier Rosas-Molina after he illegally crossed the border into Arizona on Sunday, the Tucson Sentinel reported. Rosas-Molina was one of four men who beat Agent Salomon-Martinez to death when he was off-duty in Mexico in 2003. The beating occurred after Rosas-Molina learned that Salomon-Martinez was a Border Patrol agent. Rosas-Molina had been deported from the U.S. multiple times before this murder.
“The men sneaked up behind him Salomon and beat him, pelting him with rocks until they eventually crushed his skull with a 50-pound rock,” Mexican prosecutors stated according to the Tuscon newspaper. The murder occurred near the town of Bacocahi, Sonora, Mexico, about forty miles south of the Arizona border.
Court records obtained by Breitbart Texas show that Rosas-Molina has a long history of illegal entry and deportation. This is at least the third time he has re-entered this year according to court documents. Rosas was captured in June 2016 near Tucson, Arizona, without proper immigration documents, the records stated. At that time he also admitted to having unlawfully entered the U.S. in November 2015. A new criminal complaint dated this week shows that Rosas-Molina was captured again crossing the border, this time near Hidalgo, Texas, in August 2016. At that time, he was denied admission to the U.S. and deported and removed from the country, only to return again on September 4.
Breitbart Texas contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona to ask what prosecutors will do to ensure that this man does not continue to be a threat to U.S. Border Patrol agents who repeatedly have to deal with this man convicted of murdering one of their fellow agents. A response from the U.S. Attorney was not immediately available. Breitbart Texas has also requested a complete background on this previously deported criminal alien’s immigration and criminal history.
The Tucson Sentinel reported Rosas-Molina was arrested in 2002 for attempting to smuggle marijuana into the U.S. He served 108 days in jail for that conviction.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents also arrested and deported an accomplice of Rosas-Molina in the 2003 murder. Jose Arturo Arreola-Lopez, 25, was deported in 2011 and returned to Mexico to stand trial in the murder of the slain agent. He was arrested in March 2011 for drug possession. ICE agents placed an immigration detainer on him. They picked him up at the Martin County Jail in Fairmont, Minnesota in July 2011 for deportation.
“ICE agents’ vigilance resulted in the discovery that this subject was wanted for the murder of a Border Patrol Agent several years ago,” Randy Hill, chief patrol agent of the Tucson Sector Border Patrol in 2011 said at the time. “Losing a member of the Border Patrol family is a tragedy. However, this action today sends a message to anyone who would contemplate bringing harm to a Border Patrol Agent – there will be justice – no matter how long it may take.”
The re-arrest of this multi-deported murderer re-emphasizes the need to secure our border with Mexico. Currently criminals feel free to come and go as they please without fear of consequence.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
Francisco Javier Rosas-Molina Criminal Complaint 09-16
Francisco Javier Rosas-Molina Criminal Complaint 06-16