A U.S. National Guard officer stationed in a Texas border town, awaiting the arrival of the migrant caravan, was arrested Monday morning for allegedly sexually assaulting his female colleague, authorities confirmed to The Daily Beast.
Luis Ontiveros was arrested for sexual assault of a female after police responded to an call from an America's Best Value Inn in Alpine, Texas at about 4:10 a.m. on Monday, according to a press release.
The pair are stationed in the West Texas town, located roughly 80 miles from the Mexican border, preparing for the arrival of a caravan of asylum-seeking migrants, which President Trump has called an “invasion.”
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“Upon investigation of the report, Luis Ontiveros was arrested for sexual assault of a female,” the press release stated. “Ontiveros is in the National Guard stationed in the area.”
Authorities confirmed to The Daily Beast that the female who called the police was also a National Guard officer who said she was “inappropriately” touched by the 30-year-old sergeant, who, she noted, was “severely intoxicated.”
The Alpine Police Department declined to provide additional information on the case, citing an ongoing investigation that will eventually be handed off to the National Guard.
“We are taking these allegations very seriously and will be opening up an inquiry into what happened Monday night in Alpine, Texas,” Laura L. Lopez, press secretary for the Texas Military Department, told The Daily Beast on Tuesday.
Despite the incident, Alpine Police Captain Darrell Losoya confirmed to The Daily Beast that this is the first incident of misconduct reported to the department by the active troops recently stationed in town.
“This is the first incident I am aware of,” Losoya said. “These national guards are not stationed in our town so we never see them. They have not been disturbing the peace as far as I am concerned.”
The National Guard confirmed to The Daily Beast on Tuesday that roughly 2,100 of its members are currently working along the border after the president deemed the caravan a national-security threat, making the issue a central theme in the midterm elections, even baselessly insinuating the group of refugees are hosting criminals, possible terrorists, or “random Middle Easterners.”
However, these troops, who have been deployed and stationed across many small towns along the border in Texas, Arizona, and California have been waiting for the caravan consisting of unarmed men, women, and children to arrive—laying barbed wire barriers and erecting tent facilities in the meantime, authorities confirmed.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis confirmed to reporters that he will travel to Texas on Wednesday to visit military personnel near the southwest border, as a first wave of 350 migrants arrived in Tijuana, Mexico on nine buses early Tuesday morning.
Following Tuesday’s arrival, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced the closure of four vehicle lanes into the U.S. “to install and pre-position port hardening infrastructure equipment in preparation for the migrant caravan and the potential safety and security risk that it could cause.”
