(The Center Square) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the Houston area have arrested more than 400 criminal illegal foreign nationals in the first year of the Trump administration 2.0.
The number of “alien child predators arrested are nearly double the number arrested during the last year of the Biden administration when ICE Houston arrested 211,” ICE says.
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston officers arrested 414 criminal illegal foreign nationals who were either charged with or convicted of child sex offenses in the last year.
They were charged with a total 761 child sex offenses and 525 other criminal offenses ranging from homicide to robbery, ICE said.
“While elected officials and media pundits across the country were zealously trying to manipulate the American public with fake news stories about ICE’s public safety mission, the brave men and women of ICE were quietly going about their business to arrest and remove more than 400 dangerous child predators from our local communities,” ICE ERO Houston acting Field Office Director Gabriel Martinez said. “Thanks to their tireless efforts, parents across Southeast Texas can sleep a little better tonight knowing that these pedophiles and child rapists are no longer a threat to their children.”
ICE also highlighted examples of criminal illegal foreign national sex offenders ICE ERO Houston officers arrested. They are all men and primarily from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Colombia. Many were previously deported and illegally reentered. The majority have been deported, some remain in ICE custody.
Among them was a previously deported Honduran Alex Samuel Lara Diaz, convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a minor who was wanted by Honduran officials for homicide; Salvadoran Milton Alexander Magana Fuentes, who illegally entered the U.S. four times and was convicted of sexual indecency with a minor and failure to register as a sex offender; and Colombian Luis Mario Monsalve Chaux, convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material, burglary and larceny.
They also include Mexican nationals:
Gabriel Julio Lopez-Velazquez, who illegally entered the U.S. four times and was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a minor, aggravated assault and illegal entry, and twice for felony illegal reentry; Juan Leonardo Garcia Ibarra, who illegally reentered the U.S. 12 times and was convicted of sexual indecency with a child, aggravated assault, cruelty toward a child, DWI and felony illegal reentry; Javier Perez-Garcia, who illegally entered the U.S. twice and was convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor, sexual indecency with a minor, hit-and-run and damaging property, and twice for DWI and assault; Armando Vasquez-Gonzalez, who was previously twice deported and convicted of sexual indecency with a minor, drug trafficking, assault and felony illegal reentry, and four times for DWI; Jesus Gutierrez Mireles, who was previously deported three times and convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child and DWI; and Jose Guadalupe Meza, who was previously deported four times and convicted of theft and sexual assault of a child.
Multiple law enforcement agencies were involved in their arrests, including the FBI, ATF, DEA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Diplomatic Security Service and U.S. Marshals Service as well as state and local law enforcement agencies.
These arrests were in addition to the ICE ERO Houston officers continuing to arrest violent Mexican nationals committing intoxicated manslaughter, The Center Square reported.
Members of the public are encouraged to report crimes and suspicious activity by calling 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or filing an online tip.
ICE’s Houston field office conducts immigration enforcement in 58 counties in Southeast Texas. They are located along Texas’ Coastal Bend, from Beaumont to Houston, Galveston and Corpus Christi and as far west and central into the interior as Waco.
