U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Houston field office announced Wednesday the arrests of 277 criminal illegal aliens over a two-week period between April 6 and April 17, with those individuals carrying a combined 751 criminal convictions and 654 documented illegal entries into the United States.
Among those arrested were 17 convicted child sex offenders, six convicted murderers, 16 drug traffickers, 15 gang members or associates, 67 individuals with robbery-related convictions, two foreign fugitives wanted for murder, and 11 people convicted of hit-and-run offenses. The arrests were made with assistance from federal, state, and local law enforcement partners.
Acting Field Office Director Paul McBride credited interagency cooperation for the results.
“Thanks to those relationships, we’ve removed hundreds of dangerous criminal illegal alien child predators, murderers, drug traffickers, gang members, and thieves from the local community in just two weeks and prevented an untold number of U.S. citizens from becoming victims,” McBride said.
He also warned that any moves to limit that cooperation would carry immediate consequences for public safety and national security and said the heaviest toll would fall on immigrant communities, where criminal illegal aliens commit the majority of their offenses.
Among those arrested was Haydee Mercado-Rodriguez, a 34-year-old MS-13 gang member from El Salvador who was sentenced to 228 years in her home country after being convicted of two counts of aggravated homicide, aggravated extortion, and participation in a terrorist organization before entering the United States.
According to ICE, the Biden administration released her into the country in 2024 despite her conviction and foreign fugitive status. She was arrested April 9 and remains in custody at the Montgomery Processing Center pending removal.
Also arrested was Minh Duy Tong Nguyen, a 54-year-old Vietnamese national who was convicted of murder in Houston in 1991 and has carried a final order of removal for more than 25 years. He was taken into custody April 16.
Other notable cases involved multiple convicted child rapists with Texas-based convictions.
- Manuel Navarrete-Arellano, a 43-year-old Mexican national, had illegally entered the United States six times before being convicted of sexual assault of a child in Travis County in 2024. He was arrested April 7 and deported April 9.
- Jose Ricardo Ortiz, 36, entered illegally three times and was convicted of sexual assault of a child in Medina County in 2016.
- Eric Eusevio Cortez, 44, was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a minor in McLennan County in 2015 and carried additional convictions for five DWI offenses, two drug possession charges, burglary, and larceny.
- Brandon Hernandez Torres, a 23-year-old from Mexico, had crossed the border illegally 24 times, including 22 times during the Biden administration, before being convicted of alien smuggling in 2024. He was arrested April 14 and deported three days later.
The full breakdown of convictions among those arrested included 156 for DWI, 108 for drug possession, 74 for assault-related offenses, 16 for drug trafficking, 15 for alien smuggling, 14 for illegal weapons or firearms offenses, 16 for fraud or forgery, and 29 for resisting or evading arrest.
The announcement came the same day Houston City Council voted 13-4 to amend an ordinance it had passed on April 8 limiting cooperation between Houston Police Department officers and federal immigration agents. That original ordinance eliminated a prior policy requiring officers to hold individuals for up to 30 minutes to allow ICE agents to respond.
Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to pull more than $110 million in state public safety funding over the measure, and Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the city in Fort Bend County alleging a violation of the state’s 2017 prohibition on sanctuary-style policies.
The amended version passed after Whitmire negotiated revised language with Abbott’s office, though Abbott said hours later on Fox News that the Houston Police Department “has not fully agreed to fully comply” with its state contract, warning the city could still lose the $110 million if HPD fails to detain illegal aliens it encounters and notify immigration officials.
ICE’s Houston field office covers 58 counties in Southeast Texas, stretching from Beaumont to Corpus Christi and from Houston and Galveston west to Waco.
