8 Sex Offenders Arrested in One Texas Border Sector in Two Weeks

Border Patrol agent arrests group of illegal immigrants.
AP File Photo/Ross D. Franklin
Bob Price

Agents in the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector continue to apprehend increasing numbers of migrants with previous convictions and deportations for sexual offenses. Many of the criminal aliens have convictions for sex offenses against children.

In a period of about two weeks, Del Rio Sector agents apprehended at least ten migrants with prior convictions for sex offenses. It appears the migrants may be using the large migrant groups being apprehended at record-levels in this sector as cover to try and move into the U.S. interior without being detected or apprehended.

Last week, Eagle Pass Station agents arrested 60-year-old Noe Granillo-Tapia after he illegally re-entered the United States from Mexico, according to a tweet from Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Jason D. Owens.

“Not all migrants encountered are coming here (with) good intentions,” Owens wrote in the tweet. A records check revealed the Honduran national has a conviction for Indecent Liberties with a Child.

In less than a 24-hour period, Del Rio Sector agents arrested two more migrants with criminal histories that include sexual offenses. In one incident, Eagle Pass Station agents apprehended 35-year-old Gregorio Chanelo-Ixta on a private ranch with a group of six other migrants, according to Del Rio Sector Border Patrol officials. Chanelo-Ixta received a conviction from a Santa Clara, California, court in 2006 for lewd or lascivious acts with a child. After serving a six-year prison sentence, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers removed him to Mexico in 2011.

Not far away, Del Rio Station agents conducting line watch operations arrested six migrants attempting to avoid arrest on a local private ranch near the border. During processing, the agents identified one of the men as a 70-year-0ld Mexican national, Jorge Mendoza-Zamilpa. The Mexican national also received a conviction from a Santa Clara court in 1986. The court sentenced him to three years in prison following his conviction for assault to commit rape. ICE officers deported him in 1997.

A few days earlier, Del Rio Sector agents apprehended two more convicted child sex offenders. In the first incident, Eagle Pass Station agents arrested a group of 17 migrants attempting to avoid detection. Agents identified one of the men as 49-year-old Carlos Francisco Zelaya-Salinas — a Honduran national with a conviction by a court in Houston for an attempt to commit indecency with a child, exposure. ICE officers deported him to Honduras in 2011.

Later that day, Eagle Pass South Station agents apprehended a Mexican national as he attempted to avoid detection after crossing the border near the town of Eagle Pass. A California court issued an arrest warrant for the man identified as 42-year-old Martin Garcia-Lopez on a charge of failure to appear. He received a conviction for lewd or lascivious acts with a child in 2019 and was deported by ICE ERO officers in 2020.

Del Rio Sector officials report the arrest of three more child sex offenders who were arrested by Eagle Pass Station agents as they attempted to cross the border and avoid apprehension and arrest. Officials report the following:

Nov. 21, while conducting line watch operations, Eagle Pass agents encountered four subjects attempting to avoid detection near Eagle Pass. All subjects were apprehended and transported to the Eagle Pass processing center. During processing, record checks revealed that one subject, Gelix Edgardo Barralaga, 44, a Honduran national, was convicted of indecent liberties with a child, in North Carolina, in 2007. He was sentenced to one year and eight months confinement and most recently deported in 2009.

Nov. 22, Eagle Pass agents apprehended a 35-year-old Guatemalan national, as he attempted to avoid detection near Eagle Pass. Record checks revealed he has an active warrant for a probation violation and was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child, in Houston, on March 21 of this year. He was sentenced to five years probation and was deported on May 16 of this year. The subject was turned over to the Maverick County Sheriff’s Office for an active warrant.

Nov. 24, At approximately 11:45 pm, while conducting line watch operations, Eagle Pass agents encountered 15 subjects attempting to avoid detection near Eagle Pass. All subjects were apprehended and transported to the Eagle Pass processing center. Record checks revealed that Juan Mauricio-Simon, 47, a Guatemalan national, was convicted of indecency with a child sexual contact, in Pflugerville, Texas, in 2014. He was sentenced to five years confinement and most recently deported in 2020.

A few days earlier, Del Rio Sector agents apprehended two more child sex offenders in a two-hour period, Breitbart Texas reported.

The arrest of previously deported sex offenders appears to be a growing trend. One week earlier, Del Rio Sector agents arrested two more men in a single day with convictions for sexual offenses against children. One of those was convicted of raping a disabled child, Breitbart Texas reported.

The Del Rio Sector leads the nation in the apprehension of large migrant groups, Chief Owens previously stated. The processing of these large groups who seek to surrender to the first agent or law enforcement authority they can find frequently overwhelms Border Patrol agents who have to process them. This creates opportunity for those who seek to sneak into the U.S. and avoid apprehension because of previous criminal convictions.

Breitbart Texas reports extensively on the arrests of previously deported sex offenders and child sex offenders.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point?

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