ICE arrests Ecuadorian illegal immigrant wanted on international warrant for alleged rape of 13-year-old girl

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced this week that it had arrested an Ecuadorian illegal immigrant wanted on an international warrant for the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl in his home country.

ICE announced that Manuel Oswaldo Guzman-Morales was arrested late last month and has several prior arrests in the U.S. He had first entered the U.S. in the early 90’s, although authorities do not know when.

He was first deported in 1994, but later re-entered and was picked up in New Jersey by ICE in 2007, and was eventually deported to Ecuador in 2010.

In 2013, Border Patrol picked Guzman-Morales up in Arizona crossing the border. He was denied parole, but he was later released from ICE custody with an order of supervision after posting bond.

ICE ARRESTS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WITH CHILD SEX CRIME CONVICTION, MULTIPLE DEPORTATIONS

Ecuador put out an international warrant in February last year for the alleged rape. According to a release by ICE, the alleged crime took place in Ecuador in 2013, about a month before he entered the U.S. 

MEXICAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CONVICTED OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY POSSESSION

Guzman-Morales is currently in ICE custody, but has not yet been deported. ICE said he is “pending the outcome of his proceedings.” He is the latest illegal immigrant either accused or convicted of a sex offense with a minor to come across the border illegally and be later picked up by ICE.

Last month ICE announced that it had arrested a Mexican illegal immigrant with a prior conviction for indecency with a child. The 43-year-old man had been deported five times from the U.S. and had been conviction in 2007. 

That was the same month as a 24-year-old Mexican national pleaded guilty this month to transporting and possessing child pornography after entering the U.S. earlier this year. He had come across the border and was picked up in a group of illegal immigrants near Carrizo Springs, Texas. Authorities examined his phone and discovered 116 images of children, some involving children as young as three-years-old.

The Biden administration has attempted to narrow interior enforcement guidelines for agents, to focus them on public safety threats, national security threats and recent border crossers. That guidance has been blocked after a legal challenge by Republican states. The administration has said the guidance allows them to target the most pressing threats to the country, but opponents have noted a dramatic drop in deportations under the administration.

Meanwhile, U.S. Border Patrol regularly documents cases of sex offenders, including child sex offenders coming across the border.

This week, Border Patrol agents near Donna, Texas discovered a migrant coming over with a dozen others who had been found to have a previous conviction for aggravated sexual assault of a child in  Texas — he had been sentenced to 10 years probation.