Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez and Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times,
The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts this term have focused on illegal immigrants with criminal histories.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made about 379,000 arrests from Jan. 20, 2025, through Jan. 20, 2026, and the administration has maintained that the majority involved those with criminal arrests or convictions.
Tricia McLaughlin, former assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said last year that 70 percent of ICE arrests were of criminal illegal aliens who had been charged or convicted of a crime in the United States. According to acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, last year’s arrests included more than 7,300 suspected gang members and 1,400 known or suspected terrorists.
In December, DHS launched its Worst of the Worst searchable database of criminal illegal immigrants taken off the streets. The database, which currently lists more than 30,800 entries, allows visitors to search for those arrested across all 50 states with criminal histories that include homicide, assault, rape, drug trafficking, crimes against children, assault, armed robbery, and others.
President Donald Trump signs the Laken Riley Act in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 29, 2025. The Laken Riley Act, which mandates the detention of illegal immigrants charged with theft-related crimes, is named for a 22-year-old student murdered by a Venezuelan national with no legal papers who was wanted for shoplifting. Pedro Ugarte/AFP via Getty Images
Here is a sampling of 10 violent criminal illegal immigrant arrests in 2025 and early 2026.
Indecency With a Child
On Feb. 18, 2025, ICE arrested Guatemalan national Sostenes Pérez-López in Brighton, Massachusetts.
According to a Boston Police report, a mother and her daughter encountered Pérez-López at a laundromat on Nov. 23, 2024.
The young girl was drawing at a table near the laundromat’s entrance when Pérez-López approached her. Later, the mother noticed her daughter with an unknown man and went to her, at which point Pérez-López spoke to her in Spanish.
“Your daughter is very pretty,” he said. “They are going to steal her.”
When asked who was going to steal her daughter, Pérez-López responded, “The dogs,” and left the laundromat.
The girl later told her mother that Pérez-López had inappropriately touched her.
Local human trafficking and sexual assault investigators obtained a photo of the man from the surveillance video inside the laundromat and identified Pérez-López as the suspect on Nov. 27.
Pérez-López went to a police station after he was identified and asked to speak with investigators, according to the police report. He told detectives he was at the laundromat that day and saw a girl he believed to be about 5 years old standing by herself.
He instructed the girl to come to him, then told police that he put his left arm around her waist, “pulled her closer to him,” and said, “Hola.”
Pérez-López told police the girl “just looked up at the brim of his white cowboy hat” without speaking to him. He denied speaking to the girl’s mother.
ICE officers arrest Guatemalan national Sostenes Perez-Lopez during an enforcement operation in Brighton, Mass., on Feb. 18, 2025. Perez-Lopez was charged with two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, according to ICE. Department of Homeland Security
Pérez-López was arrested and charged with two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 on Nov. 28, 2024, according to ICE, which lodged an immigration detainer against him following his arrest.
The Boston Municipal Court, Brighton Division, arraigned Pérez-López on Nov. 29, 2024, but ignored the ICE detainer and released him on bail on Dec. 12, 2024.
Pérez-López was served with a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge following his February arrest, and he remains in ICE custody.
20 Sex Crimes
On April 1, 2025, ICE and federal partners operating in Lawrence, Massachusetts, arrested Ecuadoran national Gilberto Avila-Jara, whose criminal history includes more than 20 sex crimes against a minor.
Avila-Jara allegedly illegally entered the United States near San Ysidro, California, on Feb. 10, 1996, and was arrested on March 2, 1996, at Los Angeles International Airport, according to ICE.
ICE officers arrest Ecuadoran national Gilberto Avila-Jara in Lawrence, Mass., on April 1, 2025. Avila-Jara faces more than 20 sex crime charges involving a minor. Department of Homeland Security
Avila-Jara was removed from the country in July 1996, but later illegally reentered on an unknown date.
On Dec. 18, 2020, Avila-Jara was arraigned in Lawrence District Court for more than 20 offenses, including indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, rape of a child with force, and aggravated statutory rape of a child, according to ICE.
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On that same day in December, ICE Boston lodged an immigration detainer against Avila-Jara with the Lawrence Police Department. However, the court refused to honor the detainer and released Avila-Jara on bail on March 17, 2021.
On April 22, 2021, the Essex County Superior Court arraigned Avila-Jara for six counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, eight counts of rape of a child with force, and eight counts of aggravated statutory rape of a child.
Murder and Assault
ICE arrested René Pop-Chub, a Guatemalan national who had pending charges for murder, second-degree assault, and reckless endangerment, in Hyattsville, Maryland, on April 12, 2025.
Pop-Chub was captured and subsequently removed by Border Patrol twice—once on June 13, 2013, in Falfurrias, Texas, and again on Dec. 11, 2017, in Cowlic, Arizona.
After illegally entering the United States for a third time, he was arrested on Aug. 19, 2024, by police in Maryland and charged with first-degree assault.
ICE officers arrest Guatemalan national Rene Pop-Chub in Hyattsville, Md., on April 12, 2025. Pop-Chub has pending charges for murder, second-degree assault, and reckless endangerment. Department of Homeland Security
ICE lodged a detainer with the Prince George’s County Department of Corrections on Oct. 9, 2024, but it was ignored, DHS said.
On Oct. 31 of that year, the District Court for Prince George’s County forwarded the case to the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County for the currently pending charges.
However, the district court refused to honor ICE’s immigration detainer and released Pop-Chub on April 8, 2025. He was arrested by ICE four days later.
Sex Offender Drags Officer
Mexican national Roberto Carlos Muñoz-Guatemala had a history of run-ins with the law dating back to 2010 before ICE agents caught up with him in Bloomington, Minnesota, during a traffic stop.
Muñoz-Guatemala had multiple driving offenses on his record and was previously convicted of domestic assault and a felony sex crime against an underage teenager, according to DHS.
Mexican national Roberto Carlos Munoz-Guatemala. Department of Homeland Security
In October 2022, Muñoz-Guatemala’s 16-year-old stepdaughter accused him of sexually abusing her for several months after her mother left to live with her new boyfriend, according to Minnesota court records.
The teen got proof of the abuse by propping her cell phone up on some schoolbooks and recording an incident, state court records show.
At the time of his 2022 arrest for sexual abuse, ICE issued a detainer, which was not honored by local authorities, and Muñoz-Guatemala was released from custody.
He was convicted of a felony sex crime and sentenced to 18 months in prison in October 2023, but was later released on supervised probation, according to state court records.
Three years later, when he was stopped by ICE, he refused to get out of the vehicle and allegedly tried to flee, dragging one of the officers some 50 yards.
Muñoz-Guatemala called Bloomington Police after fleeing, “claiming he was just assaulted” by ICE, court records read.
The officer recovered but was later involved in the Renee Good shooting. Good was protesting ICE and drove her vehicle toward the officer, striking him as he opened fire.
Federal immigration agents stand guard after one of their vehicles was involved in a crash while making an apprehension in St. Paul, Minn., on Jan. 31, 2026. Scott Olson/Getty Images
ICE first lodged a detainer on Muñoz-Guatemala in 2013.
Tren de Aragua Attack
Gabriel Hurtado-Cariaco, identified as a member of Venezuelan terrorist gang Tren de Aragua, first crossed the U.S. southern border illegally in 2023 and was removed. He tried again in 2024 and was released into the country under the Biden administration.
An ICE officer and FBI agent caught up with Hurtado-Cariaco outside an apartment complex in Bellevue, Nebraska, after authorities issued an arrest warrant for the man, who claims he was a first sergeant in the Venezuelan military from 2013 to 2018 before deserting.
Initially, Hurtado-Cariaco “signaled non-verbally” to the agents that he would comply as they approached to take him into custody. But the officers realized too late that it was a ruse.
With no warning, the alleged Venezuelan gang member crashed into one of the ICE officers, sending her flying. The pair hit the ground, and the ICE officer smacked her head and injured her elbow. She would later tell investigators that Hurtado Cariaco lured her in with his relaxed body language.
Federal officers arrest Gabriel Hurtado-Cariaco, an alleged member of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, in Nebraska on June 18, 2025. Hurtado-Cariaco was charged with attempted murder of a federal officer and assault on a federal officer. Department of Homeland Security
The alleged gang member then ripped off the officer’s body armor and continued the assault, according to DHS. He managed to get her in a chokehold and began to squeeze her neck.
The FBI officer was able to get Hurtado-Caiaco in a chokehold and applied “deadly force” to get him to release his grip on the officer. He turned the fight on the FBI agent but eventually fled.
The ICE officer and FBI agent gave chase, called for backup, and eventually made the arrest.
The ICE officer was hospitalized and treated for serious injuries to her head and arm. Hurtado-Cariaco was charged with attempted murder of a federal officer and assault of a federal officer.
10 Arrests, 19 charges
A Salvadorian national with a long rap sheet who was repeatedly released into local communities was taken off the streets by ICE in Fairfax County, Virginia, on Oct. 24, 2025.
Salvadoran national Jorge Armando Melendez-Gonzalez in Fairfax County, Va., on Oct. 24, 2025. Department of Homeland Security
Border Patrol arrested Jorge Armando Meléndez-González after he illegally entered the country on June 22, 2015, and refused to comply with a judicial removal order in October 2016, according to ICE.
Between March 19, 2018, and July 18, 2025, Meléndez-González was arrested 10 times and charged with 19 different crimes, including felony malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, assault and battery, grand larceny, trespassing, possessing a false identification, and public intoxication.
Just before 2 a.m. on Aug. 26, 2023, Fairfax County Police officers were called to a Merrifield, Virginia, parking lot, where they found two men suffering from gunshot wounds. One was shot in the arm and the other in the abdomen, according to a Fairfax County press release. Both were treated at a local hospital.
Almost two hours later, police received a 911 call from the hospital that a man had walked in with a gunshot wound to the arm.
As it turned out, Meléndez-González, who was living in Falls Church, Virginia, had approached a group of men who were standing in front of a business that night. One of the men assaulted Meléndez-González , who then opened fire into the crowd and fled, according to police.
ICE in the District of Columbia said it lodged two immigration detainers against Meléndez-González with the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. One was issued on Aug. 28, 2023, and another on July 18, 2025.
Fairfax County officials refused to honor the detainers and released him, according to ICE.
Manager Protects Sex Offender
A Minneapolis apartment manager tried to protect a 57-year-old Somali sex offender from arrest by blocking federal enforcement agents from entering the building on Jan. 7, 2026, according to ICE.
Mahad Abdulkadir Yusuf was eventually arrested at his Lake Street apartment after ICE launched a targeted enforcement operation to apprehend the longtime Minneapolis resident.
ICE officers conduct a targeted enforcement operation to arrest Somali national Mahad Abdulkadir Yusuf, a convicted sex offender, in Minneapolis on Dec. 31, 2025. Department of Homeland Security
Minnesota District Court records show that in June 2020, the Richfield Police Department was called to a long-term care facility in Hennepin County, where a 69-year-old woman accused Yusef of forcing her to perform sexual acts.
She told police that he had entered her room that night several times and had tried to force her to perform sexual acts in the past.
He was arrested on felony criminal sexual conduct charges but was convicted of misdemeanor nonconsensual sexual contact in 2023.
Yusuf was also arrested in 2016 for assault in the first degree and has an active warrant from 2024 for obstructing police.
He originally entered the United States in 1996 and was a lawful permanent resident, but “threw away his shot at the American dream by repaying our country’s generosity with these vicious crimes,” according to ICE.
Stabbed in the Back
Honduran national Rafael Aguilar, who was charged with attempted murder and convicted of second-degree assault after stabbing a victim in the back on April 19, 2025, was picked up by ICE agents in Baltimore on Jan. 13, 2026.
Prince George’s County failed to honor an immigration detainer and instead released Aguilar back into the community on Jan. 6, according to ICE.
He was initially charged with attempted second-degree murder. The county court system reduced the charge and sentenced him to 10 years in prison, but he served only 141 days before being released on probation.
Tren de Aragua Homicide
On Jan. 7, 2026, ICE officers in Dallas arrested Venezuelan national Alberth José Simancas-García, an alleged member of Tren de Aragua who was wanted in Peru.
In August last year, an immigration judge with the Dallas Executive Office for Immigration Review issued a final order of removal for Simancas-García.
In December, a Homeland Security Investigations task force in Dallas received information from its Houston office that Simancas-García was wanted in Peru for questioning relating to a homicide. Peruvian officials alleged he had committed additional violent crimes, including armed robbery, assault, and firearms violations.
(Left) ICE officers arrested Venezuelan national and alleged gang member Alberth Jose Simancas-Garcia in Dallas on Jan. 7, 2026. (Center) ICE agents in Baltimore arrested Honduran national Rafael Aguilar on Jan. 13, 2026. (Right) ICE arrested Guatemalan national Oscar Vasquez Lopez in Savannah, Ga., on Feb. 16, 2026. Department of Homeland Security
Deadly U-Turn
ICE attempted to arrest Oscar Vásquez López, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, under a final order of removal issued by a federal judge in 2024. During a Feb. 16, 2026, operation in Savannah, Georgia, officers saw López enter a vehicle and tried to detain him.
He initially stopped, but then allegedly fled the scene. He made an illegal U-turn, running a red light and colliding with a vehicle, killing the special education teacher driving. She was pronounced dead at the scene, ICE said.
López, who suffered only minor injuries, was charged by the Chatham County Police Department with vehicular homicide, according to ICE.
“This vehicular homicide is an absolute tragedy and deadly consequence of politicians and the media constantly demonizing ICE officers and encouraging those here illegally to resist arrest—a felony,” McLaughlin said. “Now, an innocent bystander has lost their life.”