Houston ICE operation nets over 3,500 criminal illegal aliens in six weeks during shutdown

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Houston arrested more than 3,500 criminal illegal aliens, including child predators, murderers and gang members, during the longest government shutdown, despite many agents going without pay.

ICE officials said the six-week operation, conducted from Oct. 1 through Nov. 12, marked one of the largest enforcement actions in recent years and underscored the agency’s commitment to public safety even as federal employees went without pay.

“Our entire team understands how critical ICE’s mission is to public safety and national security, and despite many of them going without pay, they continued to show up every day and give everything they had to protect this community from dangerous criminal illegal alien gang members, child predators, murderers and rapists,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operation (ERO) Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford said.

ICE said the operation led to the arrest of 3,593 criminal illegal aliens across Southeast Texas, including 67 sex offenders, 51 child predators, 13 murderers, 10 fugitives and 23 gang members. Among those taken into custody were members of the MS-13 and Paisas gangs.

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Officials said the arrests also included hundreds of aliens with convictions for driving while intoxicated, aggravated assault, weapons offenses and burglary.

Other convictions included aggravated kidnapping, drug-related offenses, human trafficking, making terroristic threats, prostitution, bribery and illegal reentry.

Among those arrested was Brayan Josue Pineda-Ayala, a 23-year-old MS-13 gang member from Honduras who was released into the U.S. by the Biden administration in May 2024 and later allegedly committed a triple homicide in Dallas County. ICE arrested him on Oct. 7.

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ICE also arrested Froilan Mejia Olveram, a 44-year-old twice-removed criminal alien and convicted rapist from Mexico, on Oct. 23. ICE said Mejia had been encountered by agents in 2023 but could not be taken into custody due to the Biden administration’s enforcement guidelines. He went on to rape and assault a woman the following month and was later convicted, according to ICE.

Other arrests included Baldomero Perez-Quezada, a 56-year-old four-time removed child predator from Mexico who was deported Oct. 31; Marco Dubon-Ayala, a 51-year-old from Mexico convicted of sexual indecency with a child; and Juan Jose Moreno-Renteria, a 40-year-old child predator from Mexico who had entered the U.S. illegally seven times.

ICE said agents also arrested 10 fugitives wanted for serious crimes in the U.S. and abroad.

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Among them was Octavio Cruz-Garcia, a five-time-removed criminal alien from Mexico wanted for homicide in Harris County, Texas.

Two Honduran brothers, Elder Antonio Cruz-Hernandez and Yony Roberto Cruz-Hernandez, were also arrested and remain in ICE custody pending repatriation to Honduras, where they are wanted for homicide.

The arrests underscore the agency’s mission to remove violent offenders and ensure those wanted for serious crimes face justice.

“As a result of those efforts, 51 dangerous child predators are no longer free to prey on our children, 10 fugitives have been apprehended and will now face justice for their alleged offenses, and thousands of other violent criminal aliens have been removed from local communities throughout Southeast Texas and will be removed from the United States,” Bradford said.