MS-13 Members, Criminal Child Sex Offenders Busted near Texas Border

Border Patrol agents assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Sector stopped five dangerous gang members from successfully moving into the U.S. interior. The agents also stopped two previously deported child sex offenders.

Weslaco Station agents arrested a suspected illegal immigrant near Alamo, Texas, on Sunday, according to Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol officials. After taking the Mexican national to the station for processing and a biometric background investigation, agents learned that the St. Peter Police Department in Missouri previously arrested him for statutory rape in the second degree. A Missouri court convicted the man and sentenced him to one year in prison.

Falfurrias Station agents located about 80 miles inland from the border, apprehended a Guatemalan man near Encino on Saturday. The area is a well-known human smuggling dropoff location where migrants are marched through dangerous conditions to circumvent the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint. After taking the Guatemalan to the station for processing, agents learned that Boston, Massachusetts, Police Department officers arrested the man in 2003 for indecent assault and battery of a child under the age of 14, officials stated.

Later that afternoon, McAllen Station agents arrested a Salvadoran man near the border town of Mission, Texas. During a background investigation, officials confirmed the Salvadoran to be a member of the hyperviolent transnational criminal MS-13 gang, according to the information from Border Patrol agents.

Rio Grande City agents arrested another Salvadoran man near Roma. The agents again carried out a background investigation and learned the Salvadoran is also an MS-13 gang member.

Weslaco Station agents picked up another Salvadoran man near the U.S. border with Mexico on Friday. This time, agents found out the man is a member of the violent 18th Street gang, officials stated.

Friday evening, McAllen agents found another Salvadoran male near the border community of Hidalgo. His record revealed the Salvadoran illegal immigrant to be an MS-13 gang member as well.

Border Patrol agents teamed up with Hidalgo County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office deputies and police officers from the San Juan Police Department to take out a human smuggling stash house in the border town of San Juan. Of the 13 migrants arrested in the stash house, agents learned one of them was yet another MS-13 gang member.

In total, the Rio Grande Valley Sector agents kept four MS-13 gang members, one 18th Street gang member and two sex offenders who previously victimized minors from successfully making their way back into the interior of the U.S.

All of the illegal immigrants will be processed for violations. If charged with illegal re-entry after removal, the previously deported criminal aliens could face up to 20 years in federal prison.