April 16, 2021- 12:30
Border Patrol agents in Texas picked up three convicted child sex offenders among groups of illegal immigrants in just two days — the latest sign of the potential dangers posed by the migrant surge at the southern border.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said that Border Patrol in Brownsville apprehended a group of nine illegal immigrants on Tuesday. That group included a Honduran national with a conviction in Minnesota for criminal sex conduct with a minor under the age of 13.
On Wednesday, agents in McAllen stopped 15 illegal immigrants — including another Honduran who had been arrested in Virginia and charged with aggravated sexual battery of a victim under 13. He was convicted and sentenced to five years.
A CBP release included a disturbing detail that the Honduran was traveling as part of a group that included two children traveling without a guardian.
Later in the day, Border Patrol agents in Rio Grande City apprehended another group of illegal immigrants near Roma, which included an El Salvadoran who had been charged with aggravated child molestation in Georgia. He was convicted and also sentenced to five years in jail. He too was traveling as part of a group that included an unaccompanied child.
VIDEO SHOWS SMUGGLER DROPPING 2-YEAR-OLD FROM TOP OF BORDER WALL
“Even with the spread of the COVID-19 virus, human smugglers continue to try these brazen attempts with zero regard for the lives they endanger nor to the health of the citizens of our great nation,” CBP said in a statement.
The shocking details come amid a surge in migrant encounters at the border, with 172,000 migrants encountered in March alone. While single adults and some family units are being returned, there has also been an increase in unaccompanied children — which has overwhelmed officials.
CBP officials have been releasing shocking details of what they are encountering at the border — including videos of smugglers dumping young children over border wall.
Earlier this week Chief Patrol Agent Austin Skero of the Del Rio Sector tweeted photos of illegal immigrants packed in a trailer so tight they were nearly lying atop one another with barely room to move.
Most of them held their arms down along their body to make more room in the space that appeared to be no more than 18 inches deep.
“With temperatures on the rise, smuggling attempts like these have a high potential to turn deadly,” he said.
