US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) apprehended a previously convicted and subsequently deported child sex offender when he tried to cross the US-Mexican border together with the illegal migrants from the caravan, according to a report by The Daily Caller.
The CBP camera surveillance team noticed a group of 24 individuals trying to cross the border illegally not far away from a port of entry in San Luis, Arizona, the report says. The group immediately surrendered when approached by CBP agents.
The announcement of Velasquez-Taperio's arrest was quickly followed by the apprehension of Wilfredo Perez-Aguilar, another child rapist, also from Guatemala. Convicted of sexual abuse and rape of a minor under the age of 12 in Kentucky in 2005, he was caught Monday trying to cross the border in Southern California.
"I am proud of our Border Patrol agents for making this arrest," Gloria Chavez, the chief patrol agent of the El Centro Sector in California, said in a statement Tuesday. "Deported sexual predators seeking to illegally enter the US will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
The news comes amid the longest government shutdown in US history, with Democrats denying President Donald Trump the $5.7 billion in funding he demands for the construction of a wall on the US-Mexican border in order to stop uncontrolled, illegal crossing of the border by immigrants.