U.S. Customs and Border Patrol is holding a previously deported child molester caught attempting to illegally reenter the United States across the southern border.

According to CBP, agents apprehended the 43-year-old convicted felon when they responded to to a report Monday afternoon of three people climbing over the border fence near Jacumba Hot Springs, California.

The agents responding to the illegal entry encountered and arrested three Mexican nationals hiding in brush.

A record check revealed that one of the three Mexican nationals CBP apprehended had previously been deported after being convicted of child molestation. Specifically, the unnamed Mexican national had spent six-years in prison for “Lewd and Lascivious Acts with a Child under 14.”

CBP termed the child molester’s arrest at the border a “significant apprehension.”

“I commend the agents involved in this arrest as their efforts reflect San Diego Sector’s commitment to strengthen border security and increase safety in our community,” Chief Patrol Agent Richard A. Barlow said in a statement.

The 43-year old child molester, according to CBP, has been placed in the custody of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego and will face federal illegal reentry charges due to his prior deportation.

The CBP San Diego Sector as of July 31, 2016, has apprehended 25,979 individuals attempting to illegally enter the U.S. via the southern border this year. The head of the union representing Border Patrol agents testified before Congress earlier this year that it is estimated agents are only able to arrest “about 40 percent of what actually crosses.”

“So if you’ve got the official numbers from the agency about what we actually arrest, that’s about 40 percent of what comes,” National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd said in February.