An illegal immigrant who was previously deported for raping a minor in California was arrested after re-entering the United States amid the huge surge in migrants crossing the border, the New York Post reports.
According to the report, “the 46-year-old Mexican national who unlawfully entered the United States Monday was taken into custody by US border agents at the El Centro Patrol Station in Southern California”, US Customs and Border Protection officials announced Tuesday.
The convicted felon illegally entered the United States approximately 29 miles west of the Calexico Port of Entry.
Agents placed the man under arrest and transported him to the El Centro Centralized Processing Center for further processing. Record checks revealed that in 2007, the man was convicted in Hemet, California, of rape, sodomy, and oral copulation; all with a person under the age of 18. The man was subsequently sentenced to over nine years in prison for his crimes, according to immigration officials. He was then deported to his native Mexico in 2014.
The Mexican national has been charged with re-entry after deportation, which carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, if convicted.
Since Oct. 1, 2020, El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents, who monitor 70 miles of the country’s border with Mexico, have arrested and/or removed 17 individuals either convicted or wanted on sexual offense charges, CBP officials said.
Late Sunday, Border Patrol agents in San Diego also arrested a previously deported child sex offender late Sunday, CBP officials said. The 35-year-old El Salvadorian national was one of two illegal aliens caught attempting to conceal themselves in thick brush in mountains just east of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, according to the report.
A records check revealed that the 35-year-old El Salvadorian national, who also was not publicly identified by CBP, had been convicted in 2009 for aggravated sexual battery of a child under 13 in Virginia. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The man was subsequently removed to El Salvador in 2014 after having a portion of his criminal sentence suspended.
He also has been charged for felony illegal re-entry after deportation. The second man caught Sunday was expelled back to Mexico, officials said.