U.S. Border Patrol has arrested sex criminals in the days leading up to Trump’s decision to send National Guard troops to the southern border.

So far in the month of April, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has had its hands full with detaining sex offenders who had sought to enter the country at the US/Mexican border.

On , border agents arrested a Mexican man, convicted of rape, who attempted to re-enter the country after having been previously removed.

Record checks revealed that he is a registered sex offender in Tennessee, stemming from a conviction of aggravated statutory rape in Sumner County in 2010.

The 36-year-old man was caught trying to enter the country illegally through the Rio Grande River.

On , Brian A. Terry Station Border Patrol agents arrested 25-year-old Jose Hernandez-Martinez for illegally crossing the border through the Mexico town of Naco.

Through a record check, agents discovered the subject was convicted in Windom, Minnesota, for criminal sexual conduct in 2011 and sentenced to one year of confinement.

Hernandez will be held in federal custody and face criminal charges for re-entering the U.S. as an aggravated felon.

Border patrol agents also arrested Moises Bautista-Ortiz, a 31-year-old Mexican national, on after he had tried to re-enter the United States illegally near Sasabe.

Ortiz had been convicted in Maricopa County, Arizona of child molestation in and given life probation. He is being processed for immigration violations and faces prosecution for re-entry as a felon.

The arrests came ahead of an order signed by President Donald Trump on that will deploy National Guard troops to the U.S. southern border as a back up for current border patrol agents.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen told reporters that the move was intended to strengthen an immigration system that “rewards bad behavior.”

“Despite a number of steps this administration has taken…we continue to see unacceptable levels of illegal drugs, dangerous gang activity transnational criminal organizations and illegal immigration flow across our border,” Nielson said.

“The president has directed that the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security work together with our governors to deploy our National Guard to our southwest border to assist the border patrol,” she said continued.

According to the CBP, Southwest Border apprehensions and inadmissible entries increased 37% in March over February. Compared to , numbers were 203% higher.

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