MS-13 Gang Members, Child Sex Offender Arrested in Texas: Border Patrol

Patches line the bottom of the border barrier where illegal immigrants cut through the fence, along the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego on July 12, 2017. Joshua Philipp/The Epoch Times

The U.S. Border Patrol says three illegal immigrants affiliated with the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs were arrested in Texas.

A Honduran man who was confirmed to be a member of MS-13 was picked up by Border Patrol agents in Falfurrias, Texas on Thursday. They said that agents in Rio Grande City arrested a Guatemalan national who had ties to the 18th Street gang. The next day, agents in Weslaco arrested an El Salvadoran man who was identified as an MS-13 member, the Border Patrol reported today.

Another man, who was not identified as a gang member, was arrested in Texas by Border Patrol agents. They discovered that the man was a sex offender.

“That same day, Weslaco agents apprehended an adult male Mexican national near Hidalgo, Texas,” the agency said. “Upon processing, it was revealed that the individual was arrested on September 19, 2006 by the Kannapolis Police Department in North Carolina for a First Degree Sex Offense – Child. The man was convicted and sentenced to 633 days confinement.”

The men will be processed by U.S. immigration officials.

MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, is reputedly the largest street gang in the United States now. The gang’s activities are characterized by excessive violence, usually but not always aimed at members of rival gangs, their friends, and their families.

“MS-13 is one of the most violent and ruthless gangs on the streets today,” stated U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox in an ICE press release earlier this month. “Working with our federal, state and local partners, we are determined to dismantle this organization wherever we find it in order to make our communities safer in Texas,” Cox explained, as The Epoch Times previously reported.