Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents at the Mexican border stopped three child sex offenders entering the U.S. illegally in Texas over the weekend, the agency’s top official said on Monday.
Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens said two were arrested in border towns Eagle Pass and Rio Grande City and a third in Cotulla, 60 miles across the border South of San Antonio.
“All had prior felony convictions for Indecency w/ child Sexual contact,” Mr. Owens said in a post on social media platform X showing mugshots of the three men.
“They will be set up for prosecution and removal from the U.S.,” he added. The identity of the men was not disclosed.
According to Mr. Ownes, CBP agents have arrested 133 criminals with prior sex offenses so far this year.
Mr. Owen’s X account is a seemingly never-ending list of criminal apprehensions. The latest on Wednesday featured the arrest in New Orleans of another MS-13 gang member named Lorenzo Alexander Benitez, from El Salvador.
“He will be prosecuted for felony re-entry after being previously removed from the US,” Mr. Owens wrote, adding that CBP agents have apprehended 41 MS-13 gang members so far this year.
On Wednesday the week before, a Tango Blast gang member with 24 arrests for illegal entry was arrested, as well as another two convicted sex offenders with previous convictions for sexual assault and crimes against children were arrested.
Two days prior, a double murderer wanted for drug offenses in Mexico was repatriated to Mexican authorities.
On April 18, Mr. Owens reported that CBP agents had seized over 2300 pounds of illicit substances in just one week. The drugs had a street value of roughly $20 million, including 630 lbs. of meth, 440 lb. of cocaine, and 7 lbs. of fentanyl.
U.S. authorities counted more than 2.4 million “migrant encounters” in FY 2023. This year so far 1.3 million encounters—already more than half of last year’s number—have been recorded up until the end of March.
Early April, San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond told the press that CBP agents in the area were “completely overwhelmed” by an incessantly increasing stream of migrants arriving at the border.
“The numbers have gone through the roof,” he told The New York Post, explaining that the lack of resources meant that those who illegally cross the border are often not properly vetted or accommodated.
“Most people are released from detention within 24-48 hours,” he said.
In recent years, CBP has caught increasing numbers of people on terror watch lists as they attempted to enter the United States illegally. For FY 2024, CBP agents have so far apprehended 235 potential terrorists at and between ports of entry, both at the Southern and Northern borders. In FY 2023, the total number reached a record of 736.
