Border Patrol agents stopped four known serious offenders from entering the United States in a single day. The migrants have previously been convicted of severe offenses, including the rape and abuse of children and other forms of indecency. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens announced that his agents prevented these criminals from entering America only days after similar offenders were stopped. Two armed migrants were also intercepted in recent days.
The arrests come as news from Florida confirms that vast numbers of indecent offenders in the United States are illegal immigrants. Officials in the Sunshine State said around 40% of the suspects detained in a recent sting were in the country illegally. A child abuse operation led law enforcement officers to 19 suspects in Bay County, Florida. Of those, 14 were in the process of traveling to engage in indecent activity with a child, while four were in possession of child pornography. Seven were migrants.
The Florida arrests were part of a nationwide operation involving the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Overall, 126 people were arrested on suspicion of child exploitation and human trafficking. The operation led to the rescue of 59 missing children over a two-week period.
Reliable statistics on crimes committed by illegal immigrants are hard to come by, as the government largely does not know who has arrived and where they go when they cross the border. Reports in 2022, however, suggest that large numbers of criminals are coming to the United States, and the number is rising.
According to a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) report in July 2022, sixty homicides were committed by illegal immigrants in 2021, which was a 1,900% increase from 2020. Drug possession and trafficking offenses rose 453% over the same period from 386 cases in 2020 to 2,138 in 2021. Overall, CBP arrested 10,763 illegal immigrants for various offenses in 2021 – an increase of 300% from 2020.
