U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday that border agents near Eagle Pass, Texas arrested two illegal immigrants from Central America who were later discovered to be sex offenders with U.S. criminal records.
While the two men were caught, the arrests will likely be seen by some Republicans a sign that it is too easy for people with criminal records to move back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico. Many Republicans have argued that the failure to secure the border is making it too easy for illegal immigrants to enter the country and commit crimes against U.S. citizens.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent watches undocumented immigrants after taking them into custody on July 22, 2014 near Falfurrias, Texas. Thousands of immigrants, many of them minors, have crossed illegally into the United States this year, causing a humanitarian crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border. John Moore/Getty Images
According to CBP, an agent apprehended a group of six undocumented immigrants on August 11. In that group was 59-year old Marcelino Argueta-Amaya from El Salvador.
CBP said Argueta-Amaya has two prior arrests for sexual offenses. In 1987, a Los Angeles court convicted him for molesting a child, and he was sentenced to three years of probation. In 1996, he was arrested in California for indecent exposure.
A judge later ordered him to be deported more than a decade later, in 2004, and he was returned to El Salvador later that year.
On August 9, agents detained Franklin Alexander Rodriguez-Diaz, a 36-year old illegal immigrant from Honduras. In 1999, an immigration judge ordered his removal in light of his several convictions, including one for raping a child.
Rodriguez-Diaz was deported to Honduras in 2004.
CBP said both will face charges of illegal re-entry, and added that their prior orders for removal will be reinstated.
CBP said that in fiscal year 2014, agents near Del Rio, Texas — less than an hour north of Eagle Pass — have apprehended 26 convicted sex offenders.
