U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) agents working in the Rio Grande Valley Sector announced last week that they arrested two sex offenders, a criminal, and 17 alleged gang members along the U.S.-Mexico border during the third week of July.

Agents from the McAllen Border Patrol Station (MCS) apprehended seven unlawful migrants near Havana. One of the subjects, Juan Castillo-Morales, a Mexican national, had previously been sentenced to two years in prison for indecency and sexual battery on a 14-year-old child. MCS apprehended another unlawful migrant sex offender who had previously been sentenced to five years for felony aggravated sexual assault and contributed to a child’s delinquency, CPB reported.

In addition, an unlawful migrant with a criminal record and a 24-month sentence for willful child cruelty was apprehended.

Agents from the Fort Brown Border Patrol Station apprehended Mauro Martinez-Saenz, a Mexican national who had been sentenced to three years in prison in Hidalgo County for sexually assaulting a child, CPB reported.

CPB agents also apprehended 17 unlawful migrants with alleged gang affiliations and criminal histories, including aggravated homicide and terroristic threats.

Additionally, CPB announced on July 18 that they had arrested three men connected to child sex abuse cases in the U.S. along the Texas-Mexico border in the previous week, as reported in The Dallas Express. Mexican nationals Martin Hernandez-Palma and Misael Gonzalez-Gonzalez, as well as Indiana native Jose Luis Armendariz, were apprehended along the border while attempting to re-enter the United States.

In other border news, the FBI issued a warning on July 20 about the increasing frequency of cartel smugglers holding unlawful migrants for up to $10,000 ransom in stash houses once they cross into the United States from Mexico, reported The Dallas Express.

Since February, the FBI has rescued 88 suspected unlawful migrants from extortion rings and arrested 15 suspects in collaboration with Border Patrol agents.