The same week the National Border Patrol Council head revealed that one out of every five Border Patrol arrests last year was of a criminal alien, U.S. Border Patrol agents in Texas arrested a previously deported, convicted sex offender from Bolivia.
According to Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol agents at the Uvalde Border Patrol Station arrested 57-year old Eliseo Cespedes-Vargas after the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office encountered him during a traffic stop on September 11.
Uvalde Border Patrol agents helped with the stop an determined Vargas was an illegal immigrant from Bolivia and one who had been arrested for attempted rape in 1992 and convicted in 2007. He was ordered removed in 2011.
Border Protection explained that Vargas’ initial removal order will be reinstated and he will be charged with “illegal re-entry of an aggravated felon.”
“Apprehending known felons at or near the border is among our prime objectives,” said Rodolfo Karisch, Chief Patrol Agent, Del Rio Sector. “The outstanding efforts of our agents in apprehending undocumented immigrants with prior criminal records makes our community safer.”
Earlier last week, Brandon Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, testified before a House committee that the Southwest border is not secure and highlighted the high numbers of criminal apprehensions.
“In 2014 ICE deported 177,000 convicted criminals. Of this number, 91,000 were arrested by the Border Patrol trying to illegally re-enter this country. To put this figure in perspective, in 2014 the Border Patrol apprehended and arrested just under 500,000 illegal immigrants – meaning that one in every five arrests last year by the Border Patrol was a criminal alien,” Judd said.
Uvalde Border Patrol Station is part of the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector, which so far this fiscal year has apprehended 13 previously deported sex offenders.
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