Twice-deported illegal immigrant pedophile severely injures ICE officer during Houston arrest

While resisting arrest, a pedophile, twice-removed illegal immigrant in Houston, assaulted an ICE officer, resulting in a severe laceration and burns on his face, according to a statement by the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS said that during an operation on Monday in Houston, a Salvadoran illegal immigrant named Walter Leonel Perez Rodriguez "brutally beat" an ICE officer with a metal coffee cup, resulting in the injuries.

The agency said the officer suffered burns to the side of his face and a severe laceration to his mouth, resulting in 13 stitches.

This comes as Homeland Security law enforcement officers are facing a 1,000 percent increase in assaults in the line of duty, according to the agency.

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According to DHS, Perez Rodriguez first entered the U.S. at an unknown date and location without inspection over 15 years ago. An immigration judge issued a removal order against Perez Rodriguez on June 11, 2013, and he was removed that same month. However, he re-entered the country illegally at an unknown time and was again removed by ICE on Feb. 24, 2020.

Besides repeat illegal re-entry, which is a felony, DHS said that Perez Rodriguez has a criminal record that includes a conviction for a sexual assault of a child under 17 years old, child fondling and multiple DUIs.

The agency said he is now in ICE custody and "can no longer pose a threat to Americans."

Commenting on the incident, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that "This repeated criminal illegal alien is about to find out the hard way that there’s a new sheriff in town—and under President Trump and Secretary Noem, anyone who lays a hand on our ICE officers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

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She decried the rise in assaults against federal law enforcement, saying, "Our brave ICE officers are facing record-high assaults" as "they lock up pedophiles and other depraved criminals to keep American families safe."

This comes shortly after ICE and other federal and Texas officials carried out a massive 10-day operation in Houston that resulted in over 1,500 arrests, including of aggravated felons, gang members, sexual predators, a murderer and others.

In a Wednesday statement, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Field Office Director Bret Bradford announced that "despite the conditions becoming increasingly dangerous for our officers as a result of the spread of violent political rhetoric and intentionally false information," agents arrested 1,505 illegal aliens in a southeast Texas operation that ran Oct. 22-31.

Bradford said the arrests of gang members, child predators and other violent criminals "prevented countless Houstonians from having to suffer from the nightmares and PTSD that come with being a victim of violent crime."

In total, the October operation resulted in the arrests of 17 documented gang members, 40 aggravated felons, one convicted murderer and 13 sexual predators, according to the ICE statement. Offenses committed by those arrested included 115 aggravated assaults, 142 DWIs, 55 drug offenses and 31 weapons offenses. The agency also said that 255 of those arrested had been previously deported from the U.S. at least once.

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Nearly one-third of those arrested have been ordered removed from the U.S. by an immigration judge, according to ICE.

ICE has carried out several large-scale enforcement operations in the Houston area this year, including one in August that resulted in 822 arrests and another in February and March that led to 543 arrests.