Texas Authorities Arrest 12 Wanted Criminal Illegal Immigrants

More than 1,000 illegal immigrants wait in line to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Dec. 18, 2023. John Moore/Getty Images

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) announced on July 3 the arrest of 12 wanted criminal illegal immigrants, several of whom were accused of indecent sexual contact with a child and human smuggling.

Five of those arrested were from Mexico, including Charli Cordova Perez, who had been wanted since June 2023 for indecency with a child by sexual contact, according to the DPS announcement.

Alvina Sanchez-Castaneda was arrested for smuggling children, and Juan Francisco Molina-Garcia was arrested for sexual assault and failing to appear in court for driving while intoxicated.

The other two Mexican nationals arrested were Jesus Medina, who was arrested in Houston for indecency with a child by sexual contact, and Israel Armando Salazar-Tovar, who had been wanted since February 2022 for human smuggling.

Four of the arrested criminal illegal immigrants were from El Salvador. Two of them—Juan Herrera-Lizama and Pedro Constanza-Lopez—had been wanted since 2022 for indecency with a child by sexual contact.

Also from El Salvador were Samuel Alexander Castro-Canas, who was arrested for human smuggling, and Rigoberto Arman Arevalo-Zavala, who was detained for sexual assault.

Another arrestee was Cuban national Raysel Carrion-Tamayo, who had been wanted since August 2023 for sexual assault. His criminal history includes commercial sex trafficking, aggravated promotion of prostitution, and human trafficking.

The DPS also arrested Guatemalan national Mario Samuel Asencio, for violating probation related to deadly conduct and discharge of a firearm, and Honduran national Alex Adriel Rios-Guzman, who was wanted out of Dallas County for sexual assault and Wichita County for driving while intoxicated.

Authorities had previously arrested two Mexican fugitives—Servando Trejo Duran Jr. and Victor Hugo Chox Gonzalez—from the Texas “10 Most Wanted Criminal Illegal Immigrants” list.

Mr. Duran was arrested for a parole violation, while Mr. Chox Gonzalez was detained for aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child by sexual contact, according to the DPS.

The most wanted list, first announced by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on June 5, aimed to bolster law enforcement efforts to capture repeat offenders who entered the United States illegally and committed serious crimes in Texas.

“Texas is a law-and-order state, and with the help of our fellow Texans, we will ensure that the illegal immigrants on this list are taken off our streets and put behind bars to keep our communities safe,” the governor said.

The new initiative, which offers cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of the criminal illegal immigrants on the list, was created in partnership with the Texas DPS and funded by the governor’s Public Safety Office.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.