ICE Houston makes more than 800 arrests in one week

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(The Center Square) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Houston arrested 822 criminal foreign nationals in a week-long operation. Those arrested include transnational gang members, convicted murderers and child sex offenders, foreign fugitives, among others.

“During the past four years, transnational gang members, foreign fugitives and other violent criminal aliens took advantage of the crisis at our southern border to illegally enter the country,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations acting Field Office Director Gabriel Martinez said. “Many of them remained in the Houston area and have gone on to wreak havoc in our local communities. This weeklong operation focused on targeting those threats to public safety and resulted in the successful arrests of 822 illegal aliens, including five transnational gang members, seven child predators and three criminal aliens convicted of homicide-related offenses.”

Among them, 330 had removal orders from federal immigration judges; 112 were previously deported and illegally reentered the U.S. at least once.

Numerous law enforcement agencies assisted ICE during the weeklong operation, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the DEA, ATF, Diplomatic Security Service, FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and Texas Department of Public Safety.

ICE highlighted the “worst of the worst” criminals arrested in Houston, including citizens of El Salvador, Guatemala, Jordan, Mexico and Zimbabwe, all living in the U.S. illegally.

El Salvador nationals arrested include foreign fugitive Hemerlindo Antonio Ascencio-Merino, wanted in El Salvador for aggravated homicide. He illegally entered the U.S. in 2022 in an attempt to evade prosecution, ICE said.

Another includes William Alexander Telles Amaya, a “habitual child predator,” convicted three times for child sex offenses, “including aggravated sexual assault of a child in April 2006, failure to register as a sex offender in May 2015, and sexual indecency with a minor in July 2025.”

Others include Cruz Leandro Martinez Leiva, a confirmed MS-13 gang member convicted of robbery and armed carjacking in 2018; and Francisco Eduardo Bonilla, “a child predator” convicted of sexual indecency with a minor in Harris County in February.

Mexican nationals arrested include Alejandro Perez Miramontes, who was previously deported 12 times. His convictions include eight times for illegal reentry, four times for illegal entry, twice each for robbery, larceny and burglary, and once each for trespassing and evading arrest, according to ICE records.

Others include three-time deported Manuel Ivan Castillo Estrada, a “child predator” convicted of “alien smuggling in November 2011 and sexually assaulting a minor in February 2024;” and twice deported Carlos Vega-Ramirez, “a child predator” convicted of sexual indecency with a minor, enticement of a minor for indecent purposes, DWI, fleeing police, forgery and illegal reentry, according to ICE records.

ICE agents also arrested Guatemalan national Jorge Eliseo Torres-Soto, “a child predator” convicted of sexual assault of a child in October 2024; Jordanian national Fuad Farah Ikhbeis, “a child predator” convicted of sexual indecency with a minor in 1995; and Zimbabwean national Lloyd Tinashe Hwehwe, convicted of driving while intoxicated and intoxication manslaughter in 2015. He illegally reentered the U.S. after being deported and was convicted of a second DWI in 2024.

ICE Houston agents are among the busiest in the country targeting criminal foreign nationals in the largest city closest to the border. These arrests follow several hundred gang members who illegally entered the U.S. more than 1,400 times; hundreds arrested for child sex crimes; and Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers, The Center Square reported.

Members of the public are encouraged to report crime and suspicious activity by calling ICE at 866-347-2423 or providing an online tip.