Agents arrest illegal immigrants with lengthy criminal records

FROM STAFF REPORTS

November 21, 2007 - 1:13PM

Two illegal immigrants arrested in separate busts Tuesday night in the Yuma area have long criminal backgrounds in the United States, the Border Patrol said.

One of the two is a convicted sex offender who has a 17-year criminal background, the patrol said in a news release.

The other had been arrested on 26 prior occasions in Arizona on suspicion of such charges as drunken driving, possession of drug paraphernalia, assault, forgery, shoplifting, burglary, vehicle theft and criminal trespassing, the patrol said in a separate release.

The illegal immigrants, both Mexican citizens whose names were not released, had been deported from the United States on numerous occasions, the patrol said.

The sex offender was arrested after agents patrolling the area found evidence of an illegal entry near the Colorado River and County 20th Street. Agents followed footprints at the scene into San Luis, Ariz., where they arrested the man.

A background check found he had been arrested on prior occasions on charges such as lewd and lascivious acts with a child, sexual battery, drug dealing, battery, trespassing and loitering, as well as various immigration offenses.

He had been formally deported from the United States five times previously, the patrol said.

He will be charged with illegal entry into the United States and re-entry after deportation, and faces a possible sentence of 20 years in prison, the patrol said.