MS-13 Member, Child Sex Predators Arrested at Arizona Border

Border Patrol agents in the Tucson Sector arrested two previously deported child sex offenders and an MS-13 member after they attempted to illegally re-enter the U.S. in Arizona.

Tucson Sector agents assigned to the Ajo Station arrested a 28-year-old Mexican national Friday night after he illegally crossed the border east of the Lukeville Port of Entry. The agents transported the Mexican national to the Ajo Station for processing and identified him as Juan Hernandez-Arnas, according to Tucson Sector Border Patrol officials. During a biometric background investigation, the agents learned Hernandez-Arnas served six years in a California prison following a 2012 conviction in Bakersfield for “Lewd or Lascivious Acts with a Child under 14-years-old.”

The following day, Tucson Station agents arrested a 26-year-old Honduran after he illegally crossed the border into Arizona. A background check uncovered a 2010 conviction in Roswell, New Mexico, for a sex offense against a child, Border Patrol officials reported. The agents identified the man as Yelson Banegas-Barahona, a Honduran national with a previous deportation on his record. Both men face new federal charges for illegal re-entry after removal as sex offenders.

That same evening, Nogales Station agents arrested a group of four illegal immigrants from Honduras. They were located in a mountainous area west of Nogales, officials stated. The Hondurans were in a trek across the desert into the U.S. Agents learned that one of the men, 35-year-old Reyes Guzman-Umanzor is a previously deported criminal alien affiliated with the transnational criminal gang known as MS-13. Guzman’s previous removals followed convictions for DUI and drug possession.

Guzman now faces new federal charges for illegal re-entry after removal.

The three other Hondurans were also processed for immigration violations. All three had previous removals from the U.S. Illegal re-entry after removal is a felony charge with a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison.