Border Patrol Detains MS-13 Member, Convicted Sex Offenders Trying To Jump Border

Border Patrol agents arrested a sex offender and an MS-13 gang member last week during separate incidents, according to a news release from the agency on Dec. 21

Agents from the Ajo Station office arrested a 46-year-old Mexican national after he illegally entered the United States near Lukeville, Arizona.

Officials later found “he was convicted in 2002 of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor in Mesa, Arizona,” the release said.

A day later, officials at the Nogales Station arrested a 24-year-old national of El Salvador, who Border Patrol agents later learned was a member of the MS-13 gang, which is also known as Mara Salvatrucha. MS-13, a violent criminal gang based in El Salvador, operates in many areas in the United States.

“Both subjects are considered felons previously removed from the country and now face federal criminal immigration charges,” the Border Patrol said. “All persons apprehended by the Border Patrol undergo criminal history checks using biometrics to ensure illegal aliens with criminal histories are positively identified.”

Migrants walk back to their camp after a failed attempt to rush the U.S. border and enter illegally, just west of the San Ysidro crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, on Nov. 25, 2018. The fence in the background is not the border, it's a secondary fence on the Mexico side. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

In Texas, the Border Patrol arrested a 26-year-old Honduran national near Eagle Pass, Texas, according to another news release. He illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico.

“Record checks revealed he has a criminal history, including a conviction in 2012 for a sex offense against a child, fondling, in New Brunswick, New Jersey,” said the Border Patrol

The unidentified man was sentenced to serve 255 days in prison and is registered as a sex offender. Later, he was removed from the United States in 2013, the agency said.

A portion of the border wall separating Texas and Mexico on May 30, 2017. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)

“Del Rio Sector is committed to ensuring the safety of our communities,” said Del Rio Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Matthew J. Hudak in the news release. “Thanks to the hard work and diligence of our agents, another dangerous sex offender has been stopped from committing any more crimes in the United States.”

Border Wall Update

Last week, President Donald Trump, in addressing the illegal flow of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, solidified a suggestion that the U.S. military build a wall along the border, rather than rely on Congress to pass a bill.

“Because of the tremendous dangers at the Border, including large scale criminal and drug inflow, the United States Military will build the Wall!” Trump wrote in a Dec. 19 tweet.

The president wants $5 billion to fund construction of the wall.

A few days later, on Christmas Eve, Trump tweeted: “I am all alone (poor me) in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come back and make a deal on desperately needed Border Security. At some point the Democrats not wanting to make a deal will cost our Country more money than the Border Wall we are all talking about. Crazy!”

Regarding the possibility that the military builds the border wall, “Congress has provided options under Title 10 U.S. Code that could permit the Department of Defense to fund border barrier projects, such as in support of counter-drug operations or national emergencies,” Pentagon spokesman Army Lt. Col. Jamie Davis said earlier this month, according to CNBC.