Officials in Prince George’s County, Maryland, are at it again. They released illegal-alien thugs despite detainers from Immigration and Customs and Enforcement.
This time, the criminals were an MS-13 member and a convicted offender, the agency reported.
Though ICE nabbed the two before they could rape or kill anyone this time, a teenage girl last year wasn’t so lucky. Two illegals murdered her after the county released them, again, despite a detainer. They beat and slashed the poor girl to death.
The message that sanctuary Prince George’s won’t hear: Sanctuary policies kill. The message voters need to hear: The leftists you elect might release an illegal-alien thug who kills you.
The Latest
The MS-13 gang member is Jose Luis Sorto Gomez, a 33-year-old Salvadoran. “Sorto has been arrested several times by Prince George’s County between 2016 and 2020, but despite five ICE detainers lodged during that time, was released after each incident,” ICE reported.
Before he landed in Prince George’s, a federal court in North Carolina convicted and jailed him for “resisting arrest, assault of a government official and larceny.”
Following a 14-month federal prison sentence, authorities in North Carolina sent him to Prince George’s because he was “the subject of active criminal warrants from Prince George’s County for failure to appear.”
Authorities there let him go, ICE reported:
ICE lodged a detainer with Prince George’s County on July 2, 2016, but Prince George’s County released Sorto into the community. Sorto is in ICE custody pending removal to El Salvador.
ICE caught the gang-banger on November 19.
The next day, ICE collared another Salvadoran, previously deported 28-year-old David Alexander Retana-Castellon, in Hyattsville, Maryland.
After he jumped the border in August 2015 in Texas, ICE booted him back to El Salvador the following month. But like so many illegals, he jumped the border again, date and place unknown.
Not surprisingly, he was a sex fiend, ICE reported. The agency’s account describes a series of events that suggests that addled incompetents are not only running state and federal courts but also U.S. immigration policy:
On May 17, 2019, the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County convicted Retana of sex offense in the third degree, sentencing him to eight years in prison in which all but three days were suspended, and placed him on three years of probation. On Oct. 9, 2019, ICE officers from the Baltimore field office arrested Retana and turned him over to the USMS for prosecution for illegal reentry, a felony. The magistrate judge granted Retana a pre-trial release. On Sept. 7, 2020, the Prince George’s County Police Department arrested Retana for failing to register as a sex offender and ICE lodged an immigration detainer with the Prince George’s County Detention Center. On Oct. 28, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland convicted Retana of illegal reentry, sentenced him to time served, and returned him to Prince George’s County custody. On Nov. 6, 2020, Prince George’s County did not honor the detainer lodged by ICE and released him to the community. Retana is in ICE custody pending removal to El Salvador.
Killers Released
Last year, as The New American reported, Prince George’s released two Salvadoran illegals despite ICE detainers. They murdered a 14-year-old girl with a bat and a machete.
That story is particularly shocking because the county released the pair of murderers after cops had arrested them in 2018 on attempted first- and second-degree murder charges, ICE reported at the time:
Josue Rafael Fuentes-Ponce and Joel Ernesto Escobar, both Salvadoran nationals … were previously arrested on May 11, 2018 when they were arrested … for attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, participation in gang activity, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted robbery, and other related charges. ICE officers lodged a detainer with PGCDC, however both were released on an unknown date and time without notification to ICE.
Like illegal alien Sorto in the most recent case, Fuentes-Ponce was an MS-13 gang member.
Granted, courts convicted and sentenced the pair, but their victim would be alive if county officials had kept them in jail.
As do local officials elsewhere in the country when sanctuary policies end in rape or murder, Prince George’s authorities blamed ICE for not obtaining a warrant.
“They should get a [criminal] warrant,” the official said. “ICE is well aware of how we handle cases in Prince George’s County. We will never hold anybody for ICE, which is what they want you to do with a detainer.”
