Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley sector arrested more than two dozen gang members and criminals who were attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border this week.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced its agents apprehended at least 21 gang members, two sex offenders, and three immigrants with prior convictions, reported Fox News.
On August 27, Rio Grande Valley agents identified a Salvadoran Tango Blast gang member who had a prior conviction of aggravated robbery in the U.S.
A day later, agents intercepted a Salvadoran 18th Street gang member with a prior conviction for aggravated homicide. Additionally, CBP agents near Sarita, Texas stopped a Guatemalan who had an outstanding warrant in Houston for indecency with a child.
Agents also intercepted a Sureno gang member with prior convictions of battery and immigration offenses and a Paisas gang member with a prior conviction for evading arrest.
Additionally, CBP announced that it had arrested 20 gang members from the 18th Street and MS-13 gangs.
In this fiscal year, CBP agents have arrested at least 627 gang members, a significant increase compared to 348 in the fiscal year 2021 and 363 in the fiscal year 2020, according to the agency’s data.
Border Patrol has intercepted at least 9,381 undocumented migrants with criminal convictions, compared to 10,763 last fiscal year and 2,438 in the fiscal year 2020.
The apprehension of the migrants comes as Border Patrol agents have encountered an unprecedented number of migrants attempting to cross the southern border.
The number of migrant apprehensions so far in this fiscal year already exceeds the total of the previous fiscal year and has set record-breaking numbers. Since October, more than 1.8 million individuals have attempted to cross the border, four times more than those who were intercepted at the border in 2020.
