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Border Patrol agents in the Del Rio Sector have apprehended multiple child sex offenders attempting to enter the United States illegally in the space of a week, as front-line agents continue to deal with high numbers of migrants coming across the border.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced last week that agents on Dec. 21 had arrested two convicted sex offenders in a single day. One of the men, from a Honduran national, had been convicted of sexual assault of a child in 2018 and sentenced to four years in prison, and was ultimately deported in 2020.
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On the same day, agents picked up a Mexican national with a previous conviction for lewd or lascivious acts with a minor under 14. That conviction took place in 1999, he was sentenced to six years and had most recently been deported in 2019.
“These arrests highlight the importance of border security and what it means for you,” said Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Jason Owens said in a statement. “Border Patrol agents stand between good people and those who would do them harm. No matter the circumstances, they remain dedicated to keeping criminals like these out of your communities.”
Owens announced this week that on Monday, agents in the sector apprehended a Honduran national with a prior conviction for sexual assault on a victim 13-14 years old in Louisiana.
“There are people in this world who commit evil acts. That’s why we need law & order,” he tweeted.
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Agents at the border regularly encounter migrants with past sex crime convictions. This week, CBP announced that agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector had arrested two gang members, including one with a prior conviction for sexual assault.
Earlier this month, RGV agents arrested three gang members, and two migrants with prior sex crime convictions — including one who had been sentenced to 10 years probation for sexual abuse of a minor under 11 in New York in 2005.
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In Fiscal Year 2021, there were 488 criminal convictions for sexual offenses among migrants coming across the border, up dramatically from 156 in FY 2020 and 58 in FY 2019. So far in FY 2022, which began in October, there have been 64 sex crime convictions among migrants.
Adam Shaw is a reporter covering U.S. and European politics for Fox News. He can be reached at [email protected].
