U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Houston Field Office apprehended 3,593 criminal illegal aliens across Southeast Texas during the recent federal government shutdown, which spanned from October 1 to November 12.
Despite working without pay during the longest shutdown in history, ICE agents apprehended people with extensive criminal records, highlighting the agency’s commitment to public safety and national security.
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The arrests included a highly dangerous contingent of violent offenders:
- 13 individuals convicted of murder
- 51 child predators
- 67 sex offenders
- 23 gang members, including an MS-13 member charged with a triple homicide
- 366 criminal aliens convicted of DWI offenses
- 261 convicted of aggravated assault
Other serious charges and convictions among the arrested people include aggravated kidnapping, human trafficking, terroristic threats, weapons violations, and a variety of drug-related crimes. ICE also seized ten illegal aliens who had outstanding felony arrest warrants for major crimes.
“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,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operation (ERO) Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford.
He highlighted the direct impact of their work, stating, “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.”
The arrests list featured some high-profile and repeat criminals with substantial criminal histories, some of whom had just been released into the United States or were previously confronted by immigration officers without removal:
- Brayan Josue Pineda-Ayala, a 23-year-old MS-13 gang member from Honduras, arrested on Oct. 7. Pineda-Ayala was reportedly released into the U.S. in May 2024 and subsequently allegedly committed a triple homicide in Dallas County.
- Froilan Mejia Olveram, a 44-year-old twice-removed convicted rapist from Mexico, arrested on Oct. 23. Mejia was encountered in September 2023, but ICE officers were unable to take custody or remove him under then-current enforcement guidelines. He was later convicted of sexual assault and aggravated assault in August 2024 for an offense committed a month after that encounter.
- Baldomero Perez-Quezada, a 56-year-old four-time removed convicted child predator, arrested on Oct. 17. Perez-Quezada remained in the U.S. following an October 2023 encounter with officials, later leading to a conviction for sexual indecency with a child in January 2025.
- Octavio Cruz-Garcia, a five-time removed 48-year-old from Mexico, arrested on Oct. 8 on an outstanding warrant for homicide in Harris County, Texas.
Other arrests included people who had previously been deported and convicted of offenses such as attempted sexual assault of a juvenile, aggravated assault with a weapon, drug trafficking, and aggravated kidnapping.
