Border Patrol agents have arrested an illegal immigrant with a number of prior conviction, including raping a child under the age of four – the latest child sex offender to be arrested trying to enter the United States.
Agents in Yuma, Arizona arrested Miguel Vargas Mendoza, a 33-year-old Mexican national on Tuesday. Chief Patrol Agent Chris Clem said that Mendoza had prior convictions for possession of a controlled substance and marijuana for sale, sex with a child three years or younger and willful cruelty to a child.
The incident marks the latest example of the kind of criminal illegal immigrants who are seeking to enter the United States via the southern border -- where agents have been overwhelmed with a historic influx of migrants that has had the border at crisis levels for well over a year.
BORDER PATROL NABS CONVICTED RAPIST, CHILD SEX OFFENDERS COMING ACROSS SOUTHERN BORDER
So far this fiscal year Border Patrol have made 9,381 arrests of criminal migrants, among the more than two million migrants who have crossed into the U.S. -- although that does not include the over 500,000 who have successfully evaded agents.
Among those encountered include 283 convictions for sexual offenses, compared to 488 in all of FY 2021 and 156 in FY 2020.
Earlier this month agents in Texas apprehended four sex offenders -- including a Guatemalan national who had previously been arrested and charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 by force and was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
MEXICAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CONVICTED OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY POSSESSION
Agents also picked a Salvadoran national who had been convicted for indecent exposure with a child in Houston in 2016, a crime for which he was sentenced to 10 years probation.
Agents in Brownsville, Texas arrested a 32-year-old Mexican national who had a prior conviction of cruelty towards a child and transmission of child pornography in Florida. Officials nabbed a Mexican illegal alien last week who had a prior arrest for sexual assault of a child under 11 in South Carolina.
ICE recently announced that a Mexican illegal immigrant who entered the U.S. earlier this year has been convicted of possessing child pornography.
Christian Munoz De La Rosa admitted to being part of a group of illegal immigrants caught near Carrizo Springs, Texas, in June. When he was picked up, authorities examined his phones and discovered the illegal images.
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The phone contained 116 images of children, some involving children as young as 3.
The Biden administration is focusing on root causes of migration and has claimed that the border is secure, although FBI Director Christopher Wray recently testified that the border presents "significant security issues."
"I have been to ports of entry, including not that long ago, with [Customs and Border Protection] officers walking me through it, so I could really see firsthand what they're up against, and all I can say is, boy, they’ve got a heck of a challenge and I admire their grit and determination to get the job done, but it’s a daunting one," he told lawmakers.
