El Paso Border Patrol agents arrest MS-13 gang member previously deported 4 times

U.S. Border Patrol Agents in the El Paso sector arrested two MS-13 gang members this week.

Early Sunday morning, Border Patrol agents working at the Texas Highway 62/180 checkpoint in between El Paso and Carlsbad began tracking a group of nine subjects attempting to walk around the checkpoint.

Border Patrol agents caught up to the group after about four hours of trailing them through the desert. The people in the group allegedly admitted to entering the U.S. illegally and were taken into custody.

Information from a database identified one of the men in the group as 25-year-old William Amaya-Ortiz, an active member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang, federal officials said.

Officials said Amaya-Ortiz had extensive criminal history in Denver, Colorado and the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Amaya-Ortiz, a citizen of El Salvador, has previously been deported from the U.S. four times and had multiple convictions for crimes ranging from assault to DWI.

Amaya was processed for removal and remanded to the custody of the El Paso Country Detention Facility to await prosecution. The other eight subjects have been processed for removal and prosecution.

In an unrelated event, another MS-13 Gang Member was also arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents. On Thursday morning, agents observed a subject attempting to enter the U.S.illegally approximately six miles east of the Ysleta Port of Entry. The subject was later identified as 30-year-old Oscar Armando Amaya-Martinez. Amaya-Martinez is a citizen of El Salvador and hadpreviously been arrested in El Salvador and charged with two counts of Extortion.

Amaya-Martinez was remanded to the custody of the El Paso County Detention Facility to await prosecution.