Illegal Immigrant Pleads Guilty to Attempted Murder of US Federal Agent

A Customs and Border Protection officer after a training exercise on the halfway point of the international bridge between the United States and Mexico, in Eagle Pass, Texas, on April 19, 2022. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

An illegal immigrant has pleaded guilty to attempting to murder a Border Patrol agent after crossing the U.S. border, according to the Justice Department.

Rey David Marquez-Jimenez, a 22-year-old Mexican, entered the United States from his home country on Jan. 26, along with two other individuals. As an agent tried to handcuff one of his companions, Marquez-Jimenez struck the agent in the head and tackled him to the ground, according to court filings.

After punching the agent repeatedly, Marquez-Jimenez took the agent’s firearm from his holster and tried to point it at the agent, the prosecutors said on Oct. 24. After getting on top of the agent, he pulled out a knife and held it near the agent’s throat and face, attempting to slash and stab him. After the agent gained control of the knife, the man fled on foot and was later arrested by other agents in the area.

Marquez-Jimenez pleaded guilty on Oct. 20 as part of an agreement that would result in 60 to 108 months in prison and another three years of supervised release.

The offense is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. He is likely to be deported from the United States, according to the plea agreement.

Illegal immigrants wait to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing into Arizona from Mexico near Yuma, Arizona, on Sept. 26, 2022. John Moore/Getty Images

From October 2021 to last month, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has apprehended 2.7 million illegal immigrants, marking the first time that 2 million arrests were recorded in a fiscal year, according to data released on Oct. 21.

About 86 percent of the apprehensions—roughly 2.38 million—took place on the southwest border. The data also include 16,993 criminal convicts, 949 of whom are wanted by other law enforcement agencies. Another 98 were previously placed on a terrorist watchlist, a more than sixfold increase from 2021.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent watches over a group of illegal immigrants after tracking them through rugged terrain at the Organ Pipe National Monument, Ariz., on Sept. 28, 2022. John Moore/Getty Images

On Oct. 24, the White House attributed the surge in illegal immigration at the southern border to the number of people who were trying to flee “falling regimes.”

“What we’re seeing—this new migration challenge—is driven by people who are fleeing falling regimes and economic collapse, as you know, in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and also Cuba,“ White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. ”It’s impacting the entire Western Hemisphere.”