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Immigrants with criminal records prompts concern
Quiet neighborhoods sit just feet from the border fence in Hidalgo.
With barely 11,000 residents, the town still feels tiny. Residents quickly spot anything that doesn’t seem right.
While the border may seem scary on cable news, Hidalgo remains relatively safe.
On Saturday, though, Border Patrol agents apprehended a Honduran man near Hidalgo. A records check revealed he’d been charged with criminal sex conduct with a minor, a first-degree felony, by the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina.
"Yes, I do worry,” said Victor Mar, a Reynosa resident who frequently visits the Rio Grande Valley. “That’s a very serious crime.”
While many immigrants enter the United States illegally to escape violence and find work, Mar said he fears the small number with criminal records could cast a shadow over all of them — and perhaps over legal Mexican visitors too.
“Yes, I worry if they confuse me for a criminal, but everything has to be cleared up through interviews and the questions they ask you,” Mar said, explaining: “Where you work, and what you do for a living will come up.”
Concerns about so-called “criminal aliens” aren’t unique to Hidalgo.
On Friday, a Border Patrol agents apprehended a Mexican man near Progreso. A records check revealed he’d been convicted of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle and sentenced to eight years in prison.
Similar apprehensions happen routinely in the Rio Grande Valley Sector.
"I haven’t heard anything about that,” said Alvino Garza, a Pennsylvania residents who’s visiting family and friends in Hidalgo.
“Now that you've heard about it, does it worry you a little bit?” asked Action 4 News reporter Ashly Custer.
“Yeah, you got to be concerned,” Garza said.
Garza, though, said having Border Patrol agents nearby reassures him.
“Of course, if you have got people and stuff (out there), it deters people from doing those things,” Garza said.
Both men apprehended by Border Patrol were referred for prosecution for illegal re-entry.
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