Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents arrested a previously deported child molester who said he illegally crossed the border to live and work in the sanctuary city of San Francisco. Immigration officials deported the Mexican national on May 12 for failing to register as a sex offender.

Saturday afternoon (May 19), Border Patrol agents assigned to the Yuma Station arrested a man who had just crossed the border from Mexico into California. The man illegally crossed the Colorado River east of the Andrade Port of Entry, according to Yuma Sector Border Patrol officials.

The agents arrested the man and took him to the station for identification and processing. A biometric background investigation revealed a criminal history for the 55-year-old Mexican national identified as Luis Robles-Gonzalez. The records also indicated that immigration officials had previously deported him to Mexico.

A court in Santa Rosa, California, convicted Robles-Gonzalez for indecent exposure and molestation of a child under the age of 18, Border Patrol officials stated. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers deported the man through the San Luis, Arizona, Port of Entry on May 12, one week before this arrest. During the investigation, the previously deported Mexican national said that he was headed to San Francisco where he planned to live and work.

San Francisco is a sanctuary city that has long been known as a safe haven for illegal immigrants. It is the city that released the seven-time convicted felon, five times deported, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, who went on to shoot and kill Kate Steinle in 2015. A California jury convicted him again for illegal possession of a firearm after acquitting him on the charge of murdering the young woman, Breitbart News reported. Zarate told officials he picked San Francisco because of its status as a sanctuary city.

Robles-Gonzalez now faces new federal charges for aggravated re-entry after removal as a sex offender. If convicted, the Mexican national could face up to 20 years in federal prison.