A previously deported gang member and a convicted sex offender were arrested within hours of each other near a Southern California border checkpoint Wednesday.

Border Patrol agents in Calexico, across the southern border from Mexicali, Mexico, found a man suspected of entering the United States illegally near the Calexico West Downtown Port of Entry just after 6 p.m., a U.S. Customs and Border Protection statement said.

A criminal record check revealed the man to be David De Jesus Leiva-Arevalo, 21, a citizen from El Salvador and a self-identified member of the MS-13 street gang with a criminal history.

Another man, identified as Juan Carlos Castanon, 48, was arrested just before 11:30 p.m. 18 miles east of the Calexico border entry point.

Castanon, a Mexican citizen, has a 1990 conviction for lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 out of Santa Clara, Calif. He was sentenced to six months in jail and five years probation.

Both men are being held in federal custody.

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Border apprehensions have outpaced the number of removals in the past five months. February saw a 74 percent decrease in apprehensions since migrants' crossings reached a peak in May 2019.

Border officials have credited President Trump's hardline immigration policies for a reduction in the number of migrants being released into the U.S. and boosting their ability to deport undocumented immigrants.