Border Patrol Busts Previously Deported Sex Offender, Seizes Drugs at Checkpoint

Border Patrol agents in southern California arrested a previously deported sex offender who had just illegally crossed the border. Agents also arrested a man who was allegedly smuggling narcotics at an immigration checkpoint. The arrests came in two separate incidents on Saturday.

Agents observed a man walking northbound from the International Border fence near El Centro, California at about 6:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. The agents interviewed the man and determined he was “illegally present in the United States,” information provided to Breitbart Texas by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Monday revealed. The man was arrested and transported to the El Centro station for processing.

During an interview and background check, agents learned the man, a 42-year-old Mexican national, had previously been convicted of a sexual offense involving a minor in California. He was sentenced to four years in prison and was deported in November 1998. The previously deported sex offender now faces a criminal charge of “Re-Entry after Removal” and is being held in the Imperial County Jail.

Border Patrol agents working the Highway 86 checkpoint were alerted to the presence of narcotics by a K-9 agent. The 2007 Mazda CX-7 being driven by a U.S. citizen, was referred to a secondary inspection station where the vehicle was searched. Agents found 27.41 pounds of methamphetamine after “an intensive search.” Agents also found 1.19 pounds of heroin. The drugs were all packed in vacuum-sealed bundles that were reported by officials to be hidden in the vehicle’s rocker panels. A rocker panel is the space in the vehicle’s frame below the doors.

Agents estimated the value of the methamphetamine at about $109,000 while the heroin was estimated to be worth about $23,700 on the streets. The U.S. citizen was turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration along with the drugs and vehicle.

The arrest of the previously deported sex offender reveals the danger represented by an open border policy where criminal illegal aliens who have been deported can simply return at will.

Bob Price serves as senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.