An active member of the MS-13 gang admitted to U.S. Border Patrol officials that he joined a caravan of migrants in the hopes of reaching the border and crossing into the United States, a U.S. official told the Washington Examiner.
Jose Villalobos-Jobel of Honduras was arrested on Nov. 24, after being spotted standing on the U.S. side of the border east of the port of entry in Calexico, Calif.
Customs and Border Protection said Villalobos-Jobel admitted to being from Honduras and an active gang member of Mara Salvatrucha 13, or MS-13, a transnational criminal organization. He also said he traveled to the U.S. from his home country with one of the caravan groups, which have said they were coming to the U.S. to apply for asylum at the border.
About 2,000 migrants who traveled through Mexico as part of the caravan are in Mexicali, just south of the border from California’s Calexico. Another 6,000 people are in Tijuana, about 100 miles west of Calexico.
The Department of Homeland Security said Monday at least 600 convicted criminals were among the 10,000 caravan migrants, but provided no proof, citing only unspecified sources.
Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector, which is just north of where the majority of migrants are staying in Mexico, has not published or reported any information of similar incidents.
The El Centro Sector said this is the first incident in their region in which an illegal entrant has admitted to being a gang member and to taking advantage of the caravan to get to the U.S., where he did not intend to apply for asylum.
