From Judicial Watch
In a disturbing case that illustrates the gravity of the security lapses along the southwest border, an illegal immigrant sex offender with an extensive criminal record and previously deported eight times was caught entering the country yet again through Mexico. His name is Elvis Cristian Hernandez-Ayala and the U.S. Border Patrol recently caught him trying to bypass a checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas. Agents arrested the 37-year-old criminal migrant and three others as they walked through a ranch not far from the border.
When Hernandez-Ayala was further vetted authorities confirmed he had been previously removed from the United States eight times following convictions for felony possession of a controlled substance, driving while intoxicated and sexual assault. A few days ago, a Trump appointed federal judge in Texas, David S. Morales, sentenced Hernandez-Ayala to 37 months in federal prison for returning to the U.S. without permission, the Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed in an announcement that says the migrant pleaded guilty. In the document the DOJ writes that Hernandez-Ayala was on supervised release for a prior illegal re-entry conviction and that he also got slapped with a 12-month prison sentence for that violation.
During the criminal migrant’s most recent court hearing, federal prosecutors presented evidence about Hernandez-Ayala’s frequent illegal re-entries and what the DOJ calls a “troubling criminal history,” that includes convictions for sexual assault involving the rape of another illegal alien in a stash house. Hernandez-Ayala is expected to be transferred to a yet to be determined federal prison to serve his sentence. As if it needs to be spelled out, the DOJ writes in its recent announcement that, because Hernandez-Ayala is “not a U.S. citizen, he is expected to face removal proceedings” following his imprisonment. Based on his history and the famously porous southern border, Hernandez-Ayala will likely return.
A growing number of illegal immigrants that enter the U.S. through Mexico have criminal records like Hernandez-Ayala. In fact, in the last few years the figure has surged dramatically. In 2021 the Border Patrol arrested twice as many criminal aliens during a six-month period alone than in all of the previous year. Among them were 982 convicted of possessing illegal drugs or trafficking, 576 convicted of assault, battery, and domestic violence, 832 guilty of driving under the influence, 381 convicted of burglary, robbery, larceny, theft, and fraud, 265 sex offenders and 162 guilty of Illegal weapons possession, transport, and trafficking. The government stats also reveal that thousands of the criminal aliens arrested in the first half of the fiscal year were previously deported after illegal entry or illegal reentry just like Hernandez-Ayala.
A few years earlier, federal authorities disclosed that over 90% of illegal aliens arrested in the U.S. had criminal convictions or pending charges. They included 56,000 assaults and thousands of sex crimes, robberies, homicides and kidnappings. Many had “extensive criminal histories with multiple convictions,” according to a report issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE). The 123,128 illegal aliens arrested by the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in 2019 had an alarming 489,063 criminal convictions and pending charges, according to agency records. That translates to an average of four crimes per alien, highlighting the “recidivist nature” of the arrested migrants, the agency points out, noting that sanctuary cities nationwide greatly impeded its public safety efforts by shielding even the most violent illegal aliens from deportation.
