The Blount County Sheriff's Office has made 13 arrests to date in a special operation to catch child predators.
A recent sting with TruBlu "Takedown" host Chris Hansen netted five arrests, and three of those taken into custody were illegal immigrants.
Hansen told Jesse Watters with Fox News Digital that the arrests show the direct impact of illegal immigration on communities.
"It says they don't respect this country," Hansen said. "And they don't respect the teenage girls of this country."
Lopez Garson Chilol, Benitez-Morales Yeison Ari and Gamboa Lopez Henry Adonias were the three identified as illegal immigrants. Hansen said one was from Honduras, and the other two were from Guatemala.
He said they used translator apps to seek teenage girls for sexual purposes and then came to the sting house.
"We have the transcripts," he told Watters. "They're able to have right here a sexually explicit conversation, ask for pictures of a teenage girl, and they go through the whole thing just as if they spoke English."
In one case, two of the men came to a house at the same time. He said the show proves there is no way to know who is safe and who isn't because there is no vetting at the border.
"Some guy's working in your backyard and the same day could be capable of coming over to one of my sting houses to try to sexually exploit a child," he added.
Hansen said while those being arrested try to play dumb, they know what they're doing.
"The emotion is, 'I got caught and how am I going to get out of it? I wasn't actually going to do it maybe there's a cultural difference; I didn't realize she was underage or it's illegal here?" Hansen said. "But they know ... they actually plead their case a little bit then they apologize. They know they're caught, they know they're here illegally; they know they've just blown a chance at the American dream because they're trying to sexually exploit a child."
The three are being held in the Blount County Jail on charges of electronic solicitation, human trafficking and traveling to meet a child to perform a sexual act.
Miguel Molina-Vazquez and Eric Lee were also arrested during the two-day sting.
All suspects will have a hearing on August 7, and the cases will go to the grand jury on October 21.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email erica.thomas@1819news.com.
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