In October, immigration authorities in Houston expelled 25 individuals, including repeat sex offenders who had previously been deported and later re-entered the country illegally. Among those removed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were two known gang members and a Mexican national who had been deported twice before, each time following a sex offense involving a minor.
Bret Bradford, director of the Houston branch of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Office (ERO), stated that the 25 noncitizens removed last month had entered the country illegally and then exploited the innocence and vulnerability of children. All those deported had been convicted of at least one child sex offense while in the country illegally, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Houston ERO, which oversees 52 counties in southwestern Texas, reported that among those deported were a Mexican national and member of the Paisas prison gang with a history of criminal convictions for committing lewd acts against a child. Another individual, a member of the Colonia Durango gang, had two prior convictions of larceny in addition to convictions of aggravated sexual assault of a minor and sexual indecency with a child.
Also among the deportees were two Salvadorians. One had been convicted of assault against a government official in addition to his sex crimes, while the other had been charged for installing an imaging device for sexual arousal in a manner to injure a child under the age of 17.
One Mexican national was handed his third straight deportation. His criminal record included cocaine trafficking, two drunk driving convictions, assault, unlawful carrying of a weapon, and sexual indecency with a child.
In the 2023 fiscal year, ERO Houston deported nearly 13,500 illegal migrants, more than half of whom had prior or pending criminal convictions. Migrant predators often target unaccompanied child migrants, who are crossing the border in record numbers.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered more than 130,000 unaccompanied minors in the 2023 fiscal year. These children are at extreme risk of pregnancy, sexual and physical assault, and sexually transmitted infections, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health. Between October 2022 and April, the Department of Homeland Security identified and/or assisted more than 2,600 victims of child exploitation and made more than 6,100 arrests for child sex crimes.