Arizona border patrol agents arrest migrant Vargas Mendoza, convicted of raping child

An illegal immigrant with several past convictions, including for raping a young child, was arrested by Border Patrol agents in Arizona on Tuesday, officials and a report said.

Vargas Mendoza, 33, a Mexican national, was caught near the southern border by agents with US Customs and Border Protection’s Yuma station, Chief Patrol Agent Chris Clem announced Thursday.

Mendoza’s previous convictions also include possession of a controlled deadly substance, possession of marijuana for sale and willful cruelty to a child, according to Clem.

Fox News reported that Mendoza was in the US illegally.

No other information about his arrest was immediately available.

So far this fiscal year, CBP agents have arrested 9,381 migrants with criminal records amid a surging number of crossings at the US-Mexico border, according to CBP statistics. 

Over 2 million migrants have crossed the US border so far this year, with an estimated 500,000 plus who evaded CBP agents, Fox News reported.

Just this past month, four sex offenders — including a rapist and men with child sex convictions — were arrested trying to cross the southern border in Texas. 

Among those arrested was a Guatemalan national who had been charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 by force. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

The Texas agents also arrested a Salvadoran national who had been convicted for indecent exposure with a child in Houston in 2016, for which he was sentenced to 10 years probation.