U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said a weeklong operation in southeast Texas resulted in the arrest of 822 people accused of being in the United States unlawfully, including transnational gang members, people convicted of homicide-related offenses and multiple alleged child sex offenders.
The operation ran from Aug. 17 to Aug. 23 and, according to an ICE statement, targeted public-safety threats in the Houston area. ICE said 330 of those arrested had previously been ordered removed from the United States and roughly 112 were previously deported and had illegally reentered at least once. The agency reported that among the arrests were five transnational gang members, seven child predators and three criminal aliens convicted of homicide-related offenses.
"During the past four years, transnational gang members, foreign fugitives and other violent criminal aliens took advantage of the crisis at our southern border to illegally enter the country," Gabriel Martinez, acting field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, said in the agency release. Martinez said many of the criminal aliens "remained in the Houston area and have gone on to wreak havoc in our local communities."
ICE identified several people arrested during the roundup and detailed prior convictions. Alejandro Perez Miramontes, a 54-year-old Mexican national, was arrested after having been deported 12 times, the agency said. ICE said Perez Miramontes has eight convictions for illegal reentry, four for illegal entry, two each for robbery, larceny and burglary, and one each for trespassing and evading arrest.
The agency named William Alexander Telles Amaya, a 35-year-old Salvadoran national, as a "habitual child predator," saying he has three convictions for child sex offenses, including an aggravated sexual assault of a child in 2006 and sexual indecency with a minor in July. Francisco Eduardo Bonilla, a 37-year-old Salvadoran national, was identified as having been convicted in Harris County in February of sexual indecency with a minor. Guatemalan national Jorge Eliseo Torres-Soto was arrested after a conviction for sexual assault of a child in October 2024, ICE said.
Other individuals highlighted by ICE included Manuel Ivan Castillo Estrada, a 36-year-old Mexican national who the agency said had been deported three times and was convicted earlier in 2024 of alien smuggling and sexually assaulting a minor; Lloyd Tinashe Hwehwe, a 36-year-old Zimbabwean national with prior DWI and intoxication-manslaughter convictions; and Carlos Vega-Ramirez, 38, whom ICE said had convictions for sexual indecency with a minor, enticement of a minor for indecent purposes and other offenses.
ICE also said the operation detained Hemerlindo Antonio Ascencio-Merino, 53, a Salvadoran national wanted in El Salvador for aggravated homicide who entered the United States in 2022 to evade prosecution, and Cruz Leandro Martinez Leiva, a 25-year-old Salvadoran national whom the agency identified as an MS-13 gang member with past convictions for robbery and armed carjacking.
Federal, state and local agencies took part in the enforcement action, ICE said, and the Texas Department of Public Safety was among the participating state partners. ICE characterized the operation as part of the Trump administration's efforts to "restore public safety by targeting the 'worst of the worst' criminal aliens and immigration law violators."
ICE noted previous enforcement activity in the Houston area earlier in the year that resulted in the arrest of hundreds of people and said the operations are a response to what agency officials describe as a broader border crisis. Fox News Digital said it sought comment from the White House and did not immediately receive a response.
The agency release included counts of convictions for offenses ranging from sexual assault of a child and sexual indecency with a minor to intoxication manslaughter. ICE did not provide details on the immigration or criminal-processing outcomes for each person arrested, saying that cases will proceed through immigration and criminal adjudication as appropriate.
The operation and the individuals identified by ICE highlight the agency's stated focus on arresting people it deems criminally dangerous or repeatedly in violation of immigration laws. ICE releases typically list arrests, prior convictions and immigration histories while saying prosecutions and removal proceedings are handled by prosecutors and immigration courts.
News organizations and public officials frequently debate the scope and scale of immigration enforcement and public-safety impacts tied to border policy. ICE's statements tie the arrests in southeast Texas to broader enforcement priorities under the current administration; the agency did not provide an overall estimate of how representative the arrests are of the unauthorized immigrant population in the region.
Further case-level outcomes, including criminal prosecutions or removals, will depend on ongoing investigations, pending court proceedings and coordination among federal, state and local authorities, ICE said.