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The story dates back to January 2020, when the Honduran national was arrested by US Border Patrol as an unaccompanied juvenile in Texas, ICE said.
They issued him a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge, charging him as inadmissible pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act. USBP charged him with being present in the United States without being admitted or paroled, or who arrived in the United States at any time or place other than as designated by the attorney general.
The next day, USBP released the boy to the custody of the Office of Refugee and Resettlement at the Children’s Home of Kingston in Kingston, New York.
In February 2020, USBP released him to the custody of his father in Alexandria, VA.
ICE says in July 2023, Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office arrested the same Honduran national in July 2023 and charged him with carnal knowledge of a child between the ages of 13 and 14 without force, possession of child sexual abuse material, and producing child sexual abuse material.
Later that day, the Pacific Enforcement Response Center lodged an immigration detainer against him with the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center in Fairfax.
ICE would soon come to find out that the now-21-year-old national had been released, and they blamed the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office.
"Fairfax County refused to honor the ICE detainer lodged against this Honduran noncitizen,” acting Deputy Field Office Director Erik Weiss said.
“When ICE detainers are ignored by local authorities, the public is put at risk; unfortunately, this time the result was the unnecessary injury of a federal law enforcement officer while prosecuting the arrest of a noncitizen charged with sexually abusing a Virginia minor and producing child sexual abuse material.
"ERO Washington remains dedicated to protecting the residents of our communities against threats posed by unlawfully present noncitizens."
A spokesperson for the Herndon Police Department tells Daily Voice they were the ones to file the charges.
Officials at the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office were apparently not thrilled to read that, because on Jan. 23, the office issued a statement saying the man was not charged by the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office, and that a different law enforcement agency brought them on.
"The individual was brought to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center at 8:45 p.m. on July 18, 2023," the office said. "At that time a full check to determine the existence of any outstanding detainers or warrants was conducted. None existed."
Upon being served with the criminal charges, the magistrate gave the man a $1,000 bond on each of his three charges. He then paid that bond and was released at 11:45 p.m. on the same day, July 18, 2023, the office said.
"In the three hours this individual was in the custody of the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office, at no time was an ICE detainer or outstanding warrant provided to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center," the release reads.
"To correct this misinformation, numerous phone calls were placed to ICE media relations. E-mails, calls, and text messages to numerous officials within ICE were sent and remain unanswered."
Deportation officers recently arrested the man at his home in Springfield on charges of sexually assaulting a Virginia minor and production of child sexual abuse material, according to ICE. The man assaulted an officer during the apprehension, according to ICE.
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