Illegal immigrant nabbed at crossing
By Bill Hess
Herald/Review


Published/Last Modified on Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 - 01:53:12 am MST


An illegal immigrant from Mexico with a criminal record of sexual offenses was apprehended Tuesday night by Border Patrol agents from the Douglas Station, an agency spokesman said Wednesday.

The unidentified man had been arrested in California on five counts of rape by force/fear and one count of sodomy of a person under the age of 18, according to Tucson Sector Border Patrol spokesman Alex Gomez.

After the man was taken into custody west of Douglas, his fingerprints were put into the Automated Integrated Fingerprint System and matched to his criminal record, Gomez said.

The man is being held for further processing and possible federal prosecution, the spokesman said.

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Since Oct. 1 through the end of August, 16 percent of the 266,344 illegal immigrants apprehended by Border Patrol agents in the agency’s Tucson Sector have been found to have criminal records, Gomez said.

That means nearly 43,000 of those apprehended have criminal records ranging from burglary to sexual charges to murder, the spokesman said.

The sad part is that those who have engaged in criminal activities in the United States and who either fled the nation, or were deported, “still feel empowered to illegally re-enter the country,â€