MD sanctuary county lets illegal alien alleged rapist go free despite immigration detainer, ICE says

A suburban Maryland county with a notorious history as a sanctuary jurisdiction is facing criticism from federal authorities for releasing an illegal alien accused of rape despite an immigration detainer.

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer on Aug. 12 with the Montgomery County (Maryland) Detention Center on unlawfully present Salvadoran national Rodrigo Castro-Montejo following his arrest for rape and other related charges," reads a statement from ICE's Maryland office to Blaze Media. "On Aug. 13, the facility failed to honor the detainer, and released Castro from custody."

According to local WJLA-TV, Montgomery County's policy allows jail officials to contact ICE if the suspect has committed a "serious crime" and has had an ICE detainer filed previously. ICE says that local officials violated the policy in order to release the suspect.

The WJLA story details the factors that led to Castro-Montejo's arrest. Castro-Montejo is a Salvadoran national residing in Florida. His accuser says that before he came to Maryland for a wedding last weekend, he had organized a meetup with her on social media. She claims the two went out drinking and dancing, she blacked out, then woke up to to him raping her.

Castro-Montejo was charged with second-degree rape and second-degree assault Saturday, August 10, and was later granted a $10,000 bail by a judge. He posted the 10 percent, $1,000 bond and walked out.

Two years ago, ICE accused Montgomery County of releasing another Salvadoran national without honoring a federal detainer despite the fact that the 18-year-old in question was arrested for taking a stolen AR-15 to school with him.

Just last week in Montgomery County, police arrested two illegal aliens from El Salvador, Mauricio Barrera-Navidad, 29, and Carlos Palacios-Amaya, 28, for raping an 11-year-old child. The investigation was reportedly triggered by a discussion the child had with a school social worker last month.

Montgomery County was also the setting for the infamous Rockville rape case, in which a 14-year-old girl was allegedly brutally raped by two illegal immigrants in a public school bathroom. One of the accused was from Guatemala, the other from El Salvador.

This news also follows on the heels of a report last week from North Carolina, where ICE says that Mecklenburg County — which contains the city of Charlotte — release another illegal alien accused of first-degree rape despite an ICE detainer.

Out west last week, ICE arrested a 59-year-old Mexican national who had been convicted of "sex assault on a child" but given no jail time. The agency claims that Boulder County, Colorado, ignored its detainer requests in this case, just as they did for the same person in 2017, when he was arrested for aggravated assault.

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