Border agents nab reputed MS-13 gang member with extensive rap sheet in U.S. Criminal history includes Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver

Headlight Staff Reports

DESERT HAVEN, Texas. – U.S. Border Patrol agents working the Ysleta area have apprehended two MS-13 gang members.

Early Sunday morning, Border Patrol agents assigned to the Ysleta Border Patrol Station and working at the Texas Highway 62/180 Border Patrol checkpoint began tracking a group of nine subjects attempting to walk around the checkpoint east of El Paso. Using various means of technology, vehicles and ATV’s, Border Patrol agents caught up to the group after about four hours of trailing them through the desert.

All subjects admitted to being illegally present in the U.S., and were subsequently transported to the station for processing. At the station, all subjects’ biometric information was submitted into several databases, one of the subjects, later identified as 25-year old, William Amaya-Ortiz, was found to be an active member of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang and had an extensive criminal history out of the metropolitan areas of Denver, Colorado and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Amaya, a citizen of El Salvador, has previously been removed from the U.S. four times, and had multiple convictions for crimes ranging from assault to DWI. Amaya was processed for removal and remanded to the custody of the El Paso Country Detention Facility to await prosecution. The other eight subjects have been processed for removal and prosecution.

In an unrelated event, another MS-13 gang member was also arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Ysleta Station. On Thursday morning, agents observed a subject attempting to enter the U.S. illegally approximately 6 miles east of the Ysleta Port of Entry. The subject was later identified as 30-year-old Oscar Armando Amaya-Martinez. Amaya-Martinez is a citizen of El Salvador and had previously been arrested in El Salvador and charged with two counts of extortion.

Amaya-Martinez was remanded to the custody of the El Paso County Detention Facility to await prosecution for 8 USC 1325 Entry without Inspection.

These incidents are perfect examples of the types of criminals that U.S. Border Patrol Agents work so hard to keep off our streets, communities and our nation. They do this in order to maintain a safer community for residents throughout El Paso, Santa Teresa and the rest of the United States.