ICE agents arrest child sex offender, process him to be deported

PECOS, Texas - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on Wednesday arrested a west Texas man who was convicted of a child sex crime.

Manuel Barraza-Garcia, a U.S. permanent resident, became deportable after he was convicted of indecency with a child, which is a second-degree felony. Agents assigned to the ICE Office in Pecos arrested the 52-year-old at his home in Monahans, Texas.

Barraza-Garcia, a national and citizen of Mexico, entered the United States in March 1977 at El Paso, Texas, as a U.S. permanent resident. On Feb. 20, 2009 he was convicted in the 143rd Judicial District Court of Ward County, Texas, and sentenced to six years of community supervision.

He will remain in ICE custody pending a hearing before an immigration judge.

"Enhancing public safety by identifying and removing foreign-born aliens who pose a threat to the community is an ICE core mission," said Alfredo Campos, acting field office director for the ICE Office of Detention and Removal Operations in El Paso.

During fiscal year 2009, ICE identified and arrested nearly 16,000 criminal aliens nationwide. Of those, 168 arrests were made in the El Paso area, which includes the 16 westernmost counties of Texas and the State of New Mexico.

ICE returned more than 136,000 criminal aliens to their countries of origin during Fiscal Year 2009. That compares to 114,000 the previous year.