Laredo, Texas, authorities nabbed two convicted child sex offenders Sunday as they attempted to traverse the United States-Mexico border illegally.
Border Patrol agents encountered Mexican national Efrain Gallardo-Rangel, 34, as they apprehended a group of 24 migrants inside a ranch, authorities announced Tuesday. Gallardo-Rangel was found guilty in 2018 of indecency with a child in Dallas, law enforcement found.
Later that day, authorities caught Oscar Murretla-Gonzalez, a 33-year-old Mexican national, and five others who allegedly attempted to board a train at Port Laredo. Murretla-Gonzalez was convicted for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14 in Salinas, California, and was sentenced to one year in prison in addition to three years of probation at the time.
LAREDO BORDER PATROL REPORTS OVER 1,000% UPTICK IN ARRESTS OF CRIMINAL MIGRANTS
“These arrests continue to highlight the dangers that illegal immigration pose to our country,” Border Patrol wrote in a statement. “Laredo Sector agents continue to arrest undocumented individuals who have been previously convicted for sexual misconduct. Dangerous criminals such as these endanger our communities and shows a lack of regard for our country’s laws.”
Laredo authorities reported an over 1,200% increase earlier in June in arrests of criminal migrants since the start of fiscal year 2021. At least 760 criminal migrants have been brought into custody, compared to 60 who were arrested over the same time period in 2020.
Border authorities in Del Rio, Texas, on May 26 announced that their sector had experienced a 3,166% jump in the apprehension of convicted sex offenders, compared to numbers from the same time frame in 2020. Ninety-five border crossers previously found guilty of sexual crimes have been apprehended in the area.
The figures were included in a bulletin that stated agents caught 10 convicted sex offenders who illegally entered the U.S. from May 17 to May 24. Among them were Mexican nationals who had been found guilty of lewd and lascivious acts with a child, forcible sexual abuse, sexual assault of a child under 14, sexual assault of a child, sexual assault, and sexual conduct with a person under 13.
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Two Honduran nationals were arrested in the one-week period as well. The pair had a litany of convictions, including statutory rape and second-degree sexual assault of a child.
President Joe Biden has faced bipartisan criticism over his perceived leniency at the southern border as unprecedented numbers of migrants, particularly unaccompanied children, continue to flood into the country. Vice President Kamala Harris has been the subject of similar pushback after she has yet to visit the border despite her appointment as immigration czar over three months ago.
