Border News

During the past weeks, twenty-five foreign-born convicted sex offenders (mainly from Mexico and Latin America) have been arrested in the Houston area. BCIS agents have been conducting background checks of registered sex offenders. The crimes of these offenders allow authorities to deport them without a hearing. Most were convicted of sex offenses against minors. Since 2001, agents have arrested 155 foreign-born sex offenders in a national effort to protect minors from sexual predators.

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In order to be more vigilant about alien criminal threats to the United States, The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has created a Top Ten Most Wanted list. This list is comprised of foreign nationals around the world who have been convicted of serious crimes committed in the United States. These aliens are deportable, but have managed to elude law enforcement officers.

As of June 2003, all ten of the Top Ten Most Wanted criminal aliens have been located. Nine of the criminal aliens have been arrested over the past month and the tenth has fled to Iran. Their crimes include attempted murder, aggravated assault, aggravated criminal sexual assault, manslaughter, rape, sexual abuse, receiving stolen property, and first degree murder. ICE prioritizes its Most Wanted fugitives based on the degree of threat they present to the public. The list can be viewed at the ICE website: http://www.bice.immigration.gov.

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Allegations have been made by Mexican parents that their son, Francisco Javier Platt Medina, was killed as a result of a beating given by the U.S. Border Patrol. Medina died on the night of July 6, one week after he was in the custody of the Border Patrol and retuned to Mexico. An autopsy showed that he died of liver and kidney failure and his midsection was covered in bruises.

Medina climbed the border wall on the night of June 29. According to his parents, a Border Patrol agent confronted him, shot him with a pepperball gun, sprayed him with pepper spray and then beat and kicked him.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General is investigating these allegations.

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In a four-day sweep that began on July 8, thirty foreigners under deportation orders because they have criminal records were arrested. The twenty-five men and five women were arrested in a roundup that was part of collaboration between the Department of Homeland Security and local police agencies. A total of 150 people have been arrested through the six roundups that have taken place in Florida.

None of the thirty arrested fugitives are believed to have terrorist links. Their convictions include cocaine smuggling, child neglect, statutory rape and many misdemeanor offenses.

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The Department of State (DOS) has lifted the restriction on the use of U.S. passports for travel to, in, or through Iraq, effective July 14. The DOS maintains that there is still a high security threat for U.S. citizens in Iraq and warns those Americans in Iraq that it has limited emergency services. For more information, visit the DOS’s Bureau of Consular Affairs web site: http://travel.state.gov.

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There have been 93 deaths of undocumented immigrants in Arizona this year. Since July 11, agents have found seven dead bodies in the desert. The majority of deaths was attributed to the harsh terrain and extremely hot temperatures.