An initiative recently launched by Gov. Greg Abbott, in partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety, to “locate and arrest repeat offenders who have entered the country illegally” is yielding results.
Abbott announced the creation of Texas’ 10 Most Wanted Criminal Illegal Aliens List on June 5, and within hours, Servando Trejo Duran Jr., one of the fugitives on the list, was taken into custody in Port Lavaca by DPS agents. His previous convictions include burglary of a residence and homicide. He has also been charged with tampering with a government record and violating parole.
On Monday, Gov. Abbott took to social media to celebrate the capture of Victor Hugo Chox Gonzalez, who topped the 10 Most Wanted List. Gonzalez was arrested by DPS officers in Fort Worth on June 13, as Newsweek reported.
“Texas captures the #1 most wanted criminal illegal immigrant. He’s now behind bars in Tarrant Co. We continue our search for the other most wanted,” Abbott posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Gonzalez’s previous convictions in Tarrant County include driving while intoxicated with a child under 15 and assault causing injury to a family member, according to the DPS website. He was deported in 2016, but in 2021, warrants for his arrest were again issued in Tarrant County, this time for assault and failure to identify/giving false/fictitious information. In January 2023, the Arlington Police Department issued warrants for his arrest for aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child by sexual contact.
Community members thanked law enforcement for the capture of the illegal alien and cited the need for more border security.
“God bless the DPS Special Agent who arrested the #1 fugitive at the top of the ’10 Most Wanted Criminal Illegal Immigrants List’ in Fort Worth, Texas,” Rosalie Escobedo, Tarrant County director of Citizens Defending Freedom, told The Dallas Express. “… He’s a pedophile waiting to pounce on his next vulnerable child victim.
“This is only one example of the multitudes of people like this who are pouring over our border and causing lawlessness, irreversible destruction, and a tremendous burden on our law enforcement and taxpayers. The border must be closed to protect our citizens and our sovereignty from evildoers intent on making our nation ungovernable,” Escobedo said.
The Brennan Center for Justice commented in a recent analysis that while all acts of violence must be taken seriously, “policymakers should not attribute blame to entire classes of people when individuals commit crimes.” The authors of the analysis pointed to a Texas study that found illegal aliens were 47% less likely to be convicted of a crime than native-born Americans, based on statistics from DPS.