U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested 21-year-old Guatemalan national Ander Cortez-Mendez—an illegal alien and convicted child rapist—after Fairfax County authorities released him despite a federal detainer request.
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) announced that they apprehended Cortez-Mendez on April 2 in Falls Church, Virginia, nearly two weeks after the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center refused to cooperate with federal immigration officials and released him back into the community.
Cortez-Mendez first crossed illegally into the United States near Rio Grande Valley, Texas, in February 2018, where he was immediately flagged by U.S. Border Patrol and issued a notice to appear before a federal immigration judge. Years later, in March 2024, he was arrested again—this time by Fairfax County police for alleged sex crimes involving a minor.
ICE promptly lodged a detainer request with Fairfax County on March 18, but local officials—under sanctuary policies pushed by far-left Democrats—chose to release him instead of turning him over to federal authorities.
On May 20, 2024, the Fairfax County Circuit Court found Cortez-Mendez guilty of having sexual intercourse with a child. Shockingly, the court handed him a mere three-month sentence—and suspended it entirely, allowing this predator to walk free once again.
“Ander Cortez-Mendez is a convicted sex offender, and exactly the type of illegal alien that ICE officers seek to remove from Washington, D.C. and Virginia,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Washington, D.C. Field Office Director Russell Hott.
“We refuse to allow such offenders to continue to threaten the residents of our neighborhoods. ICE Washington, D.C. and our law enforcement partners will continue to arrest and remove criminal aliens from the streets of our communities.”
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