El Paso Sector Border Patrol agents arrested two previously deported sex offenders who tried to sneak back into the United States. The criminal aliens attempted to use groups of migrants crossing the border in New Mexico, officials stated.

In the early morning hours of May 2, agents patrolling the border near the Santa Teresa Port of Entry tracked down a group of migrants who illegally crossed the border. The agents tracked the group’s footprints as they attempted to disappear into the desert after crossing the border. The group consisted of two Guatemalan males and two men from China, according to information provided by El Paso Sector Border Patrol officials on May 8.

The agents transported the migrants to the station where they underwent a biometric background investigation. The agents determined one of the men to be a previously deported illegal alien with a criminal history in Colorado. A Colorado court handed down a two-year prison sentence after the Arvada Police Department arrested the 44-year-old Guatemalan national for “first degree sexual assault.” Immigration officers deported the man following the completion of his prison term.

Agents placed the migrant in detention pending prosecution for illegal re-entry after removal as a sex offender.

Two days later, agents patrolling the bootheel region of the New Mexico border with Mexico encountered another Guatemalan man who had illegally crossed the border. The agents conducted a biometric background investigation into the history of the 36-year-old Guatemalan national. The investigation revealed an extensive criminal history.

Agents learned the Guatemalan man received a conviction from a Santa Clara, California, court for “lewd acts with a child under the age of 14,” officials stated. The court sentenced the man to three-years in state prison. Immigration officers deported the man in 2016. He now faces federal prosecution for illegal re-entry after removal as a sex offender.

“This is an ongoing situation that Border Patrol Agents face in southern New Mexico and El Paso, Texas,” El Paso Sector Border Patrol officials said in a written statement. “Hundreds of parents and children are being encountered by agents after having faced a dangerous trek north while convicted criminals attempt to avoid detection by circumventing agents who are occupied detaining large family groups.”