Hourly Update

Border agents arrest illegal entrant convicted in Colorado of sexual assault

Border Patrol agents arrested a 31-year-old illegal entrant from Mexico late Wednesday night who was convicted of sexual assault in Colorado and had been deported last week in Douglas. Agents captured the man overnight and discovered his sexual assault conviction Thursday morning while running his fingerprints through an electronic database system at a processing center in Nogales, said Jim Hawkins, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. The man, whose name was not released Thursday, was convicted of sexual assault on July 26, 2006, in Littleton, Colo., and deported through Douglas on July 20; last week, Hawkins said. Border Patrol officials estimate that about 10 percent of the people they catch have criminal records. Recent data seem to bear that out. From Oct. 1 through June 15, 31,152 — or 11 percent — of the 288,018 apprehensions made in the Tucson Sector were illegal entrants with criminal records, said DeWitt, citing the latest figures available. During the same time in 2006, 28,592 — or 9 percent — of the 313,645 apprehended had criminal records, he said.