More than 1,600 illegal immigrants were arrested in three days in a single Texas border sector, according to the chief Border Patrol agent for the area.
Skero later added that Del Rio agents detained a convicted rapist who had previously been deported.
Roman Gonzalez-Flores, 49, a citizen of Mexico, was arrested after he illegally entered the United States from Mexico. Officials later determined that he was convicted of the crime in 2004, was sentenced to two years in prison, and was most recently deported in 2021, according to the agency.
Gonzalez-Flores now faces felony charges for illegal re-entry after removal as a convicted sex offender and could face 20 years in prison.
The agency said that 56 illegal immigrants with prior sexual assault convictions were “encountered” by agents since Oct. 1 of last year.
On Wednesday, in a separate incident in California, Border Patrol agents and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that 13 people who died in a crash with a semi-truck may have been illegally smuggled across the border.
“We pray for the accident victims and their families during this difficult time,” said El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino in a news conference on Wednesday. Agents, he said, believe the deceased individuals were part of a larger group of about 44 migrants who were smuggled through a hole in the fence near Calexico, a California city that lies along the border and is next to the Mexican city of Mexicali.
Bovino added that an “initial investigation into the origins of the vehicles indicate a potential nexus to the aforementioned breach in the border wall,” while adding that “human smugglers have proven time and again they have little regard for human life.”
“Those who may be contemplating crossing the border illegally should pause to think of the dangers that all too often end in tragedy; tragedies our Border Patrol Agents and first responders are unfortunately very familiar with,” he said in the news conference.
