U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Houston continue to arrest and remove violent criminals illegally residing in the U.S. In several recent operations, agents apprehended over 600 criminal foreign nationals, including previously deported offenders, gang members, sex offenders, and fugitives.
Among those removed was Orbelin Benitez-Carbajal, a criminal Mexican national with prior convictions for manslaughter and assault. He was deported last week after illegally reentering the U.S. in January. His record also includes driving while intoxicated in Austin and illegal entry in West Texas.
Eight-time deportee Baltazar Pantoja Calderon was also removed this month. His convictions include kidnapping, DWI, illegal entry, and resisting arrest. Each time he reentered the U.S., he was apprehended and returned to Mexico.
Leticia Caballero Guadarrama, a Mexican national deported six times since 2002, was also removed. She accumulated 14 convictions, including six for DWI, six for theft, and two for refusing to identify herself to law enforcement. ICE Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford called her repeated offenses “shocking,” emphasizing the risk she posed to Texans.
ICE agents also removed Ariel Nunez Figueroa, a Mexican national wanted for kidnapping and organized crime. Authorities linked him to the 2014 murder of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Teachers’ College. After evading capture for nearly 11 years, ICE tracked him down in Houston and deported him in January.
In a separate targeted operation, ICE arrested nine criminal foreign nationals convicted of sexual offenses, including multiple deportees from El Salvador, Mexico, Cuba, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
A one-week operation resulted in 646 arrests, including 543 charged or convicted of crimes such as homicide, sex offenses, drug trafficking, and illegal firearms possession.
Bradford stated that criminal aliens have exploited the border crisis to commit violent crimes but vowed that law enforcement would remain relentless in eradicating these threats from the country.
