WATCH: Horse-mounted officers capture previously deported child predator at border

Immigration

WATCH: Horse-mounted officers capture previously deported child predator at border

The agency said that it was alerted to the illegal’s presence by drawbridge camera being set off on a private ranch around 10:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day

Peter Pinedo Fox News

Published

January 6, 2026 7:22pm EST

Video

Child predator apprehended by mounted authorities

Mounted officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety apprehend an illegal alien near the border. (Credit: Texas DPS)

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Horse-mounted Texas Department of Public Safety officers captured a previously deported illegal alien child predator close to the border.

In a Tuesday statement, the state agency said that officers from its Border Mounted Patrol Unit made "multiple" illegal immigrant apprehensions on New Year’s Day as part of an effort dubbed "Operation Lone Star."

The agency said the operation took place in Maverick County, a county along the U.S. border with Mexico, just south of the town of Del Rio, Texas.

Among those arrested by Texas DPS officers was Marcio Steven Izaguirre, a 41-year-old Honduran illegal alien and child predator, according to the agency. DPS shared body-camera video of the arrest in which horse-riding troopers discovered Izaguirre hiding in thick desert brush.

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Illegal immigrant arrested by mounted Texas trooper

Mounted Texas DPS officers arrested Marcio Steven Izaguirre, a 41-year-old Honduran illegal alien and child predator, on New Year's Day. (Courtesy of Texas Department of Public Safety)

The video shows two mounted troopers riding quickly through rocky desert terrain and eventually discovering Izaguirre. The officers shout commands for Izaguirre to come out of the brush, handcuff him and lead him away in front of their horses.

The agency said that it was alerted to the illegal’s presence by drawbridge camera being set off on a private ranch around 10:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day.

DPS said that through further investigation, troopers learned that Izaguirre is a previously deported felon, with multiple deportations dating back to 2004. The agency said Izaguirre also has a lengthy criminal history, including convictions from 2008 for furnishing alcohol to a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and child molestation out of Cobb County, Georgia.

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Photo of the team with Adan Delgado-Ortega after his arrest on a Texas ranch.

In 2025, Adan Delgado-Ortega was captured hiding in brush after crossing illegally into Texas, with multiple deportations since 1998 and convictions for assault and weapons charges. (Texas Department of Public Safety)

The agency said it has since referred Izaguirre to U.S. Border Patrol.

Texas DPS spokesperson Lieutenant Chris Olivarez said in an X post on Jan. 1 that mounted officers, along with Border Patrol and aided by K9 "Bona," apprehended 5 illegal immigrants on New Year’s Day.

Olivarez said the operation prevented gotaways and was a way of "Keeping Texas safe."

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Texas law enforcement patrols the border between the U.S. and Mexico. (Fox News)

Texas makes up well over half of the U.S. border with Mexico, around 1,254 miles. It is the only southern border state to explicitly ban sanctuary jurisdictions. Texas also requires state and local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

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Texas law also mandates that local sheriffs cooperate with federal immigration enforcement by seeking to enter federal 287(g) agreements under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.

Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

WATCH: Horse-mounted officers capture previously deported child predator at border