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ICE placed a detainer on Salvadoran national William Hernandez almost immediately after he was arrested on Wednesday, Jan. 25, with an eye toward deporting him.
The detainer will hold Hernandez in the Bergen County Jail – without exceptions -- until he can be brought before a federal judge at an immigration status hearing in Newark.
Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said detectives from his Special Victims Unit began investigating after Englewood police alerted them earlier this week to the allegations against Hernandez.
Together both agencies determined that Hernandez sexually assaulted the youngsters “on multiple occasions” in Englewood, the prosecutor said.
Hernandez was charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault and two counts each of sexual assault and child endangerment.
Whether he faces those charges or is instantly deported will be up to a U.S. District Court judge.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seek such detainers whenever immigrants suspected of living illegally in the United States are jailed.
Even with the state’s liberal bail reform law, sex offenders who are charged with crimes as severe as Hernandez are rarely, if ever, released by Superior Court judges in New Jersey.
If a judge were to order Hernandez’s release for some unanticipated reason, agents from ICE would still have another 48 hours to come and get him from the jail.
Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton has honored detainer requests for defendants who've been charged with or convicted of felonies but not for those seized solely for possible deportation.
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