Border Patrol agents in Texas arrested a convicted murderer among a group of migrants being smuggled into the country. The criminal alien was arrested earlier this month at a residence in Laredo.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) says the arrest of 53-year-old Mexican national Rodrigo Mercado-Rodrigues was made in the late morning of October 1 by agents from the Laredo Sector Intelligence Unit.
Mercado-Rodrigues was convicted of murder in Prospect Heights, Illinois, in 1999 and received a prison sentence of 25 years. Mercado-Rodrigues was also convicted of domestic battery five years before the murder and had been previously deported.
The subject is currently charged with immigration violations and will remain in custody pending federal prosecution.
"Despite the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, smugglers continue to show little or no regard for the safety of our Nation by indiscriminately smuggling convicted felons into the country," CBP stated in a press release. "Laredo Sector agents will continue to be vigilant in their efforts to keep dangerous criminals from entering the United States."
Human smugglers could care less about the lives of illegal aliens or the lives of Americans impacted by criminals smuggled into the country. Smugglers abandon illegal aliens in the desert, leave them in cramped compartments in sweltering temperatures, and show no regard for the health and safety of migrants when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic. Criminals deported after serving time for serious offenses often end up back in the United States with the assistance of human smugglers.
On a typical day in 2019, CBP agents made an average of 2,354 apprehensions between U.S. ports of entry and 23 arrests of wanted criminals.
Despite the risk to their lives amid the coronavirus pandemic, Border Patrol agents also continue to rescue illegal aliens who become lost and in need of assistance after human smugglers abandon them in remote areas along the border.
Border Patrol agents recently found over 100 illegal aliens packed like sardines inside a tractor-trailer at an immigration checkpoint near Laredo. In August, Border Patrol agents in the Tucson Sector rescued nearly 30 illegal aliens over the course of a weekend.
Hundreds of border patrol agents have been placed in quarantine after coming into contact with infected migrants. Acting CBP Commissioner Mark A. Morgan announced in early August that 10 CBP officers have died as a result of contracting COVID-19.
