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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.
ICE arrested the Honduran noncitizen at his residence in Bladensburg, Maryland, on April 15. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images, File)
Virginia’s Fairfax County Police Department first arrested the man on July 5, 2023, and charged him with felony carnal knowledge of a child 13 to 14 years of age, without force, according to the federal 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.
ICE said that the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center did not honor its immigration detention request and released the man from custody twice. (Bryan Cox/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via Getty Images)
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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 a 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.
The Fairfax County Sheriff's Office told Fox News Digital in a statement that the inmate was released by a Fairfax County judge because ICE had declined to get a judicial warrant.
"The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office has repeatedly told Immigration and Customs Enforcement that an administrative detainer is not sufficient to hold an inmate past their release date in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center," the statement said. "The Sheriff’s Office has informed ICE that a judicial immigration warrant is needed to effectuate a transfer to ICE custody. This ensures that the FCSO only detains individuals with lawful authority. Despite ICE’s knowledge of this, they declined to obtain a judicial warrant."
"The individual in question was released on bond on all charges by a Fairfax County judge," it continued. "At the time the inmate was ordered to be released, the Sheriff’s Office had no outstanding judicial warrants on file. He was therefore released pursuant to the court order."
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.
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