U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has recaptured two illegal immigrants who escaped custody after allegedly assaulting a female Border Patrol agent.
Juan Carmen Pardon Mendez, 29, and Juan Carlos Padron Barron, 23, both from Mexico, have been “taken back into custody and will be criminally prosecuted to the fullest extent allowed under the law,” ICE’s Houston office said.
According to ICE, the men “escaped from custody on Sept. 22 in Conroe, Texas, after one of them was able to get out of [his] restraints and choked a female Border Patrol agent who was transferring them to the Montgomery Processing Center.”
“It is sickening that another law enforcement officer has been needlessly harmed as a direct result of the continued demonization of legitimate law enforcement activities by political leaders and certain members of the media,” said Gabriel Martinez, acting Field Office Director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations.
ICE emphasized the risks faced by officers, stating, “Every time they label the brave men and women who work for ICE, CBP, or Border Patrol as Nazis or bounty hunters, they might as well paint a bright target on their backs because attacks like this are inevitable and will continue to occur.”
Both suspects were apprehended Tuesday with the assistance of law enforcement partners, ICE reported.
The men were initially detained “during an ICE-led multi-agency enforcement operation targeting violent criminal aliens and egregious immigration offenders near Spring, Texas,” the agency added.
ICE noted that “Padron Barron has illegally entered the U.S. at least three times and was previously expelled on Dec. 13, 2022, and Jan. 1, 2023. This is the first time that U.S. immigration officials have encountered Padron Mendez.”
The agency highlighted that these arrests “are part of the current administration’s focus on restoring public safety by targeting the ‘worst of the worst’ illegal aliens and have resulted in historic numbers of transnational gang members and dangerous child predators being removed from local communities throughout Southeast Texas.”
