Feds arrest more than 50 people in major immigration operation

McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — With assistance from other law enforcement officers, Border Patrol arrested more than 50 people Thursday and Friday during a major operation in the Rio Grande Valley.

Agents targeted people with criminal records who had no legal status in the United States.

“I think it was all the way from Starr County to Cameron County — Rio Grande to Brownsville,” said Hidalgo County Precinct 1 Constable Celestino Avila Jr.

Border Patrol, the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Marshals Service participated in the operation.

Avila and Hidalgo County Constable Larry Gallardo said deputy constables assisted federal agents.

It remains unclear when agents started making arrests and how many people they arrested.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection referred a request for comment to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, which declined to comment.

Documents filed in federal criminal cases, however, suggest the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Border Patrol spent months planning the operation.

Border Patrol started filing criminal complaints in July, according to court dockets reviewed by ValleyCentral.

About 50 criminal complaints were unsealed on Thursday and Friday. As many as 25 other cases may remain sealed.

The criminal complaints, which all follow the same pattern, state that agents “confirmed” or “verified” each defendant’s “presence” near a particular city on a particular date.

Documents filed by prosecutors don’t explain how agents confirmed or verified each defendant’s location.

After they located the defendants, agents conducted records checks to verify whether the defendants had legal status in the United States.

Records showed each defendant had entered or re-entered the United States without permission, according to the criminal complaints filed against them.

Border Patrol located several defendants in April, according to the criminal complaints, but waited until August to arrest them.

Agents made at least two arrests in Brownsville on Thursday. They followed up Friday with arrests in McAllen, Rio Grande City and other parts of the Valley.

Many people arrested during the operation had committed a crime after illegally re-entering the United States. They pleaded guilty and received deferred adjudication, which allowed them to avoid felony convictions.

Some pleaded guilty to assault. Others had drug charges. Several had multiple convictions for driving while intoxicated.

“We don’t inquire, as judges, when we’re putting them on probation,” said state District Judge Noe Gonzalez. “We explain to them that if they’re not citizens of the country, they’re subject to deportation.”

In the past, the federal government didn’t always try to deport people with criminal convictions, Gonzalez said. Some remained in the United States.

That changed in January, when President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

“They had requested information from adult community supervision throughout the Valley,” Gonzalez said. “In fact, several counties had notified us — and we contacted them — to see what was going on.”

Hidalgo County asked lawyers to review the request.

“I think all the departments ended up complying,” Gonzalez said. “We didn’t comply right away because we wanted legal to review it.”

Gonzalez said the federal government didn’t notify judges or the Hidalgo County Community Supervision and Corrections Department about the arrests.

“We were not aware of it,” Gonzalez said.

Fifty people arrested during the operation are scheduled to appear before a magistrate judge in McAllen on Monday afternoon.

If convicted of illegal entry, they face a maximum of two years in prison. If convicted of illegal re-entry, they face a maximum of 20 years in federal prison.