JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Every day, federal law enforcement officers make arrests and deport individuals who are in the U.S. illegally.
Some of those arrested are facing charges for sex crimes or have recently been convicted of such offenses, which points to a bigger issue concerning data that shows the number of illegal immigrants convicted of sex crimes.
Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper announced the arrest of a man who was in the country illegally and is accused of using the internet to lure a 14-year-old girl for sex.
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During an operation that led to multiple arrests of people accused of trying to meet with teens for sex, one of the arrested suspects was 29-year-old Javier Eduardo Melindez-Serrano from Honduras.
Leeper stated, “He was on the app called Skip the Games and communicated with what he thought was a 14-year-old. He sent nude photos of himself and said he would pay her $150 for sex. Oh, by the way, he was in the country illegally.”
According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection documents, criminal convictions of illegal immigrants across the U.S. detailing specific crimes from 2017 to February of this year.
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In 2017, there were 137 sex crime convictions. The following two years saw the number drop below 100. In 2020, the number rose to 156, and in 2021, convictions spiked to 488.
In 2022, the number dropped to 365, but the following two years saw convictions remain above 200. As of February 2025, 68 illegal immigrants have been convicted of sex crimes.
Recently, ICE released arrest photos of illegal immigrants facing sexual assault charges or recently convicted of sex crimes. Most of these individuals come from Mexico and Central America, with others from Central Africa and West Asia. Those who commit violent sex crimes may find themselves deported to the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison in Venezuela.
In recent weeks, hundreds of individuals deemed violent offenders have been deported to that facility.