SEX-OFFENDER STINGS GET THOUSANDS OF ILLEGALS (Experts still concerned U.S. children could become prey to repeat offenders)

WorldNetDaily.com/Chelsea Schilling

A 2006 Department of Homeland Security Report says, more than 9,000 sex offenders have beenarrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials through a series of stings calledOperation Predator in three years of operation. But some experts are wondering if the efforts areenough to protect innocent American children from being preyed on by returning criminal alien sexoffenders. Illegal aliens have been linked to wave of gang-rapes across the U.S. The program wasdesigned to safeguard children from foreign national pedophiles, human traffickers andinternational sex tourists, and in the first year alone, ICE arrested more than 3,200 childpredators in the U.S. who committed forms of child exploitation. Re-entering the U.S. after havingbeen deported is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison, but many aliens try and dosucceed.

In fact, ICE reported, Nicolas Sandoval-Medina, a twice-deported child molester from Mexico, wasarrested with 25 pounds of marijuana and eight firearms in his possession in May 2004.Sandoval-Medina first entered the U.S. illegally in 1996 and was deported to Mexico in July 1997.He later re-entered the country illegally and had sex with a 12 year old girl in a Des Moines motelroom, and was subsequently convicted on two counts of Lascivious Acts with a Child in December1999. He was also criminally prosecuted for re-entering the country after deportation, a felony,and was deported to Mexico again in July 2000.

In another case, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who attempted to abduct a 7 year old girl froma laundromat was one of 25 arrested in a sting targeting criminal alien sex offenders in LosAngeles last August. Four of the offenders, two Salvadorans, a Honduran and a Mexican, previouslyhad been deported from the U.S. A fifth man, Alejandro Rodriguez Villegas, 50, convicted of lewdand lascivious acts on a child under 14, also faces criminal charges but remains on the loose.

Below are just a few of the arrests of foreign national sex offenders by U.S. Immigrations andCustoms Enforcement since the beginning of Operation Predator in July 2003. Many of the sexoffenders had been deported at least once before they returned to molest children again.

~ On July 10, 2003, Humberto Gabriel Zamora, a Mexican who was living under an alias in Willmar,was arrested. He had been convicted of first degree sexual abuse involving a 15 year old girl inMarch 2001. He was deported to Mexico in April 2001. He subsequently re-entered the countryillegally and moved to Willmar, where he began working under another name.

(Minnesota)

~ On July 24, 2003, ICE agents arrested 25 men convicted of sexually abusing children and 2women convicted of child abuse or endangerment. ICE agents had targeted for arrest Bayardo RafaelChamarro, a Nicaraguan national who was a registered sex offender and who had evaded lawenforcement efforts to deport him. As the prepared to arrest him, Chamarro was caught groping a 12year old girl in a Sears department store. He was subsequently charged with lewd and lasciviousmolestation on a child under the age of 16. He had been charged previously with similar crimesagainst minors and was a registered sex offender under Megan's Law.

(Miami, Florida)

~ On August 13, 2003, ICE agents announced the arrest of 50 aliens who had been convicted ofsexual offenses involving minors, but had evaded deportation. Among those arrested were a summercamp employee convicted of molesting three pre-pubescent sisters.

(Baltimore, Maryland)

~ On September 13, 2003, ICE agents announced the arrest of 13 aliens who had been convicted ofsexual offenses against minors, but had subsequently evaded deportation. Among those arrested wasPedro Gutierrez-Lozano, a Mexican national convicted in 1999 of second degree sexual assault on amentally impaired minor. He was deported to Mexico in 2000 after serving his 180-day jail sentence.He returned to the U.S. illegally and began living in Colorado until his arrest by ICE agents.

(Denver, Colorado)

~ On September 13, 2003, ICE officers arrested Ramon Amador, a 53 year old man wanted inMinnesota on charges of raping a 9 year old, when he applied to U.S. immigration benefits inCalifornia. A background check revealed that Amador was a wanted fugitive.

~ On September 16, 2003, a federal judge in Newark sentenced Rafael Ruiz, a Dominical national,to 44 months imprisonment for operating a house of prostitution in Plainfield, N.J. He was involvedin a ring that smuggled female juveniles from Mexico into the U.S. and then held them to work asprostitutes against their will. ICE agents closed down the trafficking ring.

~ On September 16, 2003, ICE agents arrested Fritz Laguerre based on an outstanding deportationorder. Laguerre, a citizen of Haiti, had been arrested by the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office in July2002 for raping his 12 year old daughter. He had subsequently evaded ICE efforts to deport him.

(West Palm, Florida)

~ In March 2005, ICE deported Julio Cesar Rabago-Magana, a Mexican illegal alien who had beenconvicted of raping a 4 year old boy in the basement of Mercado Central in Minneapolis.Rabago-Magana asked the boy to help him carry boxes to a basement storeroom. The boy agreed, butwhen they entered the room, Rabago-Magana sexually assaulted him. Rabago-Magana pleaded guilty tofirst degree criminal sexual conduct. After serving his sentence, removal officers deported him toMexico six days later.

~ On May 4, 2005, Martin Salgado-Rivera, a 60 year old Mexican national with a criminal historythat spans three decades, was one of twelve foreign child sex predators arrested in southern SantaClara County, California. Salgado-Rivera's criminal past includes convictions for the rape andmolestation of several minors. his arrest was part of a daylong operation targeting convicted aliensex offenders who now face deportation.

~ October 25, 2005, 47 criminal alien sex offenders were arrested in New York. Thirty-six of theoffenders were in the U.S. illegally, and fourteen were legal permanent residents. All wereforeign-born and had been convicted of rape, sodomy, assault with intent to cause physical injury,sexual abuse and sexual misconduct, endangering the welfare of a child, reckless endangerment,coarse sex conduct and possessing a sexual performance by a child. One victim was only 3 yearsold.

~ December 2005, ICE agents arrested 8 criminal alien sex offenders in Washington, D.C. andVirginia over a period of three days. All are citizens or nationals of El Salvador, Honduras, andMexico who have previously been convicted of sex crimes against children, including rape, statutoryassault on a child, aggravated sexual battery, sexual abuse, and indecent liberties.

~ November 29, 2006, U.S. ICE agents and officers of the New York City Department of Probation,arrested 45 child predators and criminal alien sex offenders in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx andManhattan.