EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated with information from Hidalgo County sheriff and Mission police.
EDINBURG, Texas (Border Report) — A Canadian woman who was arrested this weekend on charges of mailing the poison ricin to the White House, had been deported back to Canada from South Texas after overstaying her visa in 2019, according to a report in The New York Times.
And Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra on Monday afternoon said that “envelopes” of ricin were mailed to him and three others in South Texas associated with the case, but resulted in no injuries. Border Report reached out to Guerra but he did not comment and tweeted this is an “active federal investigation.”
Art Flores, an investigator with the Mission Police Department, told Border Report on Monday afternoon that an envelope was mailed to Mission Police Chief Robert Dominguez last week, on Thursday or Friday, “and has been confiscated by the FBI.” Nobody was injured, Flores said.
“We did receive an envelope and chief contacted the FBI,” Flores said.
The Times reported late Sunday that in March 2019, Mission (Texas) police arrested the unnamed woman on suspicion of possession of an unlicensed weapon, resisting arrest, and carrying a fake driver’s license, according to a senior intelligence official. She reportedly was held in the Hidalgo County Jail in Edinburg, Texas, where it was discovered that she had overstayed her six-month visa and was deported to Canada.
Flores confirmed that the unnamed woman was arrested by Mission Police on March 20, 2019 “and then she went to county (detention.)”
The Hidalgo County Adult Detention Facility is located in Edinburg, Texas. (Border Report Photo/Sandra Sanchez)
The Times reported that on Sunday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials on the northern border detained the woman as she tried to cross with a firearm into Buffalo, New York. The woman reportedly is being held in Washington, D.C.
An FBI spokeswoman confirmed to Border Report on Monday that “an individual has been arrested who was believed to be connected to sending the suspicious letter to the White House.” However, the suspect was not named and no more information was released.
“Beyond that, there has been no further information authorized for release,” the spokeswoman said.
Border Report has submitted a public information request with the City of Mission and Mission Police Department but they said they could not comment and referred all calls to the FBI.
The Times reported that the woman had been living in the United States prior to the March 2019 arrest. She was deported for violating terms of her passport by committing a crime while in the United States.
Border Report asked CBP officials with the RGV Sector if they had been involved with the deportation of the woman in 2019 and a spokesman referred all inquiries to the Department of Justice.