Fairfax County, Va., repeatedly released Honduran charged with sex crimes, ignored ICE detainer request: feds
Fairfax County, Virginia, ignored a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer request for a Honduran national charged with sex crimes against a child in Virginia, ICE said Wednesday.
Immigration officials arrested the 30-year-old Honduran national at his residence in Bladensburg, Maryland, on April 15, after Fairfax County twice released him. The agency did not provide his identity in the release.
"This Honduran noncitizen stands accused of some very serious crimes and represented a threat to the children of the Washington, D.C. area," ICE said. "When local jurisdictions have policies in place which prohibit them from cooperating with ICE ERO and from honoring our lawfully issued detainers and administrative warrants, they put the suspects, law enforcement officers, and most importantly, the members of our local communities at risk."
ICE said that it was unknown when and where exactly the Honduran national originally entered the U.S. The agency said the man was arrested and released multiple times on charges of sex crimes with a child.
FOX News Digital reached out to the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Virginia’s Fairfax County Police Department first arrested the man on July 5, 2023, and charged him with felony carnal knowledge of child 13 to14 years of age, without force, according to the agency.
ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) placed an immigration detainer against the man the following day. The Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, however, "did not honor" the ERO's request and released the man from custody on a $10,000 bond on July 10, 2023.
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Fairfax County police arrested the man again in February and charged him with two additional counts of felony carnal knowledge of child 13 to14 years of age without force, and two counts of felony indecent liberties with a child less than 15 years of age.
The jail then released the man from custody later that same day before ERO could file an immigration detainer.
During the man's arrest, ICE deportation officers served him with a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge.
The Honduran national will remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of his removal proceedings.