Carrasquero reportedly played a key role in orchestrating a chaotic incident at the border, during which 211 migrants broke through a wire fence and overwhelmed national guardsmen attempting to maintain control as they rushed towards the border wall. Witnesses claimed that one of the rioters was seen violently targeting a soldier during the episode. Initially believed to have fled to Arizona after the incident, Carrasquero was eventually apprehended in Des Moines, Iowa, in October. State police in Iowa detained him during a routine traffic stop, revealing that he was wanted in Texas. Carrasquero is currently being held in state custody in El Paso, Texas, following his arrest in Iowa.
Gabriel Enrique Angarita Carrasquero, who had been on the run for seven months, was finally captured by authorities. As part of the legal proceedings against Carrasquero related to the border riot, Border Patrol agents interviewed a migrant who cooperated with authorities and identified Carrasquero as one of the instigators involved in storming the fence. This informant recounted observing Carrasquero actively participating in bringing down a gate using a rope, which subsequently allowed the migrants to breach the border, circumventing the National Guard presence. Carrasquero, along with another alleged instigator, had initially been released by border agents following the incident.
In a separate incident in March, hundreds of migrants managed to breach the razor wire border fence set up by the state of Texas, despite efforts by soldiers to control the situation. Fortunately, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers were able to swiftly apprehend another suspect, Juan Jose Colorado Gutierrez, who was wearing an ICE ankle monitor at the time. The reasons for Gutierrez wearing the monitoring device remain unclear.
Out of the 211 migrants involved in the March riot, 124 have been released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under a policy set by the Biden administration. This policy directs ICE to prioritize the enforcement and detention of individuals deemed to pose public safety, national security, or border security threats. Texas Governor Greg Abbott disclosed in September that over 100 of the rioters were suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
In response to these incidents, the state of Texas has equipped its soldiers and troopers stationed along the border with non-lethal pepper ball guns as a precaution to prevent potential future violence.
