HARLINGEN, Texas (Border Report) — A suspected MS-13 gang member illegally in the United States was arrested on a traffic stop Wednesday in South Texas, law enforcement says.
Texas Departemnt of Public Safety troopers say Walter Alexander Zavala Amaya, of El Salvador, is a member of MS-13, which Texas has declared a terrorist organization. He was arrested Wednesday in Val Verde County, outside the border town of Del Rio, Texas.
Texas DPS say troopers had encountered Zavala Amaya on Tuesday during a traffic stop but he ran off. However, during a subsequent chase, he dropped his ID card that identified him as a resident of El Salvador.
Law enforcement officials, with the help of Border Patrol and the FBI’s Threat Screening Center, linked Zavala Amaya to MS-13.
He was encountered again just after 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday on U.S. 277, during a traffic stop of a car driven by Kieuncey Worth, 24, of Rockwall, Texas. Officials say he was in the back seat of the car driven by Worth along with two Mexican nationals.
Worth and passenger Coy Ford, 23, of Wichita Falls, Texas, were arrested and charged with smuggling of persons. They were transported to the Val Verde County Jail.
The three migrants were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Officials say Zavala Amaya was first arrested and deported to El Salvador by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in May 2016. He later re-entered the United States and was arrested on July 11 by officers with ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Baltimore Field Office. Zavala Amaya was last removed from the United States on July 13.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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