Sex offenders, gangs and smugglers: criminal element surges along southern border

U.S. Border Patrol agents continue to apprehend sex offenders, criminals, and gang members along the southern border, with one apprehension turning deadly after a human smuggler crashed into a local resident’s car and killed a mother and daughter in Mission, Texas.

Border patrol agents have apprehended nearly 2 million people who’ve entered the U.S. illegally since the Biden administration began its open border policy, reversing existing policies and ignoring immigration laws passed by Congress.

Despite an increased workload and staff shortages, agents still manage to arrest gang members, convicted sex offenders and other criminals attempting to enter the U.S. illegally.

Over the weekend, agents in Laredo apprehended a Mexican national and MS-13 gang member with a criminal history. He was referred for federal prosecution for violating federal immigration law and remanded to U.S. Marshals Service custody.

Agents near McAllen and Harlingen also arrested three gang members and two foreign nationals previously convicted of sexual assault crimes and a man with an active arrest warrant from Utah for a sex crime. Agents also stopped two human smuggling attempts, arresting six people in the U.S. illegally from Guatemala and Mexico.

They apprehended eight people trespassing on a Texan’s ranch who entered the U.S. illegally from Guatemala and Mexico, bypassed Border Patrol checkpoints, and headed north.

In the same weekend, McAllen station agents arrested a Dominican Republic national who was convicted and sentenced to two years’ incarceration for strongarm rape in Massachusetts in 2017. He’d been deported but reentered after the Biden administration changed border policy and was caught again by Border Patrol agents.

Agents also apprehended two El Salvadoran Mara-Salvatrucha gang members, one of which was a female attempting to enter the U.S. illegally with a group of 65 people near McAllen. One in the group was a known Salvadoran 18th Street gang member. Agents also encountered a 36-year-old Mexican national wanted for aggravated sexual abuse of a child. He is being extradited to Utah.

Harlingen station agents apprehended a group of El Salvadorans, also with criminal records. One 34-year-old male had been sentenced to 10-years’ probation for sexual abuse of an individual less than 11 years old in Suffolk County, New York, in 2005. He was sentenced to 30 days’ confinement for possessing a forged instrument the same year. In 2019, he was sentenced to 14 months’ incarceration for being in the U.S. unlawfully after having been deported. He was deported only to reenter the country again after the Biden administration began its open border policy, and was caught again by Border Patrol agents.

Also around the same time period, Rio Grande Valley agents thwarted five smuggling attempts resulting in 36 arrests breaking up stash houses in McAllen and Rio Grande City.

One smuggling act was partially thwarted after an agent attempted to conduct a vehicle stop and the driver failed to yield resulting in a vehicle pursuit. The driver veered off the road, barreled through a property owner’s fence and was stopped by a gate. Multiple people bailed out, only two were caught.

McAllen station agents conducted another vehicle stop near Hidalgo where two U.S. citizens were smuggling eight people from Mexico and Central America. All individuals were arrested and transported for processing.

Also around the same time, agents working with Hidalgo County Precinct 4 Constables responded to a residence in McAllen suspected of harboring illegal immigrants. They arrested 13 people from Central America who had entered the U.S. illegally after bypassing Border Patrol check points.

Agents also worked with Starr County Sheriff’s Office deputies to apprehend five people from Mexico and Central America, who were also hiding in a stash house, this time in Rio Grande City.

Another smuggling attempt was thwarted after agents attempted to conduct a vehicle stop near Encino. The driver failed to yield and led the agent on a vehicle pursuit, which resulted in a bail out with multiple people fleeing. Responding agents helped apprehend 11 people from Mexico and Central America, but the driver got away.

But the smuggling event that made local news over the weekend occurred in Mission, Texas, after two local residents were killed by a human smuggler fleeing from state troopers.

The alleged smuggler, a U.S. citizen reportedly transporting six illegal immigrants,the alleged smuggler ran a stop sign while fleeing from state troopers. Texas DPS officers have been assisting Border Patrol agents through Operation Lone Star, an initiative launched by Gov. Greg Abbott in March to stop as much criminal activity as possible stemming from illegal immigration and Biden’s open border policies.

The alleged smuggler crashed into the car of two innocent bystanders. All seven in the smuggler’s car were apprehended. The driver faces charges of at least felony evading and human smuggling. One of the people being smuggled flew through the smuggler’s windshield, and survived.

But Texas DPS confirmed that the victims were local residents of Mission, Texas, a 59-year-old mother and her 22-year-old daughter. Both were killed as a result of the Biden administration’s open border policies.

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who has called for the impeachment of President Biden and Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, tweeted photos of the wreckage.

He said, “Yes, we are dealing with the highest levels of southern border encounters on record, but even that data point can’t tell the full story of the destruction going on at our border & our communities.”

The pictures are of scenes all too familiar to Texans living at the border or even several hundred miles north. They are the result of high-speed chases of alleged human smugglers or criminal illegal immigrants pursued by Texas law enforcement officers, after they’ve made their way north, many having entered the U.S. illegally through the southern border.