Maryland law enforcement officials suspended a prison sentence for an illegal immigrant convicted of sex crimes against a minor and then ignored a detainer request on him, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
ICE agents apprehended Raul Calderon-Interiano, a Guatemalan national living in the U.S. illegally and convicted of sexually abusing a Maryland child, the agency announced in a press release on Monday. Local officials then suspended his prison sentence and released him back into the community despite an immigration detainer placed on him.
“Raul Calderon-Interiano was convicted of sex crimes against a local child and posed a significant threat to other Maryland children,” ERO Baltimore acting Field Office Director Matthew Elliston said in a statement. “We will not tolerate the residents of our communities to be victimized by unlawfully present sex offenders.”
“The women and men of ERO Baltimore will continue to prioritize the safety of our public by aggressively arresting and removing noncitizen predators from our neighborhoods,” Elliston continued.
Federal immigration officials first became aware of Calderon-Interiano when he was encountered by Border Patrol near Laredo, Texas in June 2014 after he unlawfully entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor, according to ICE. He was served with a notice to appear before an immigration judge and then transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) later that month.
ORR released Calderon-Interiano into the custody of a sponsor living in Maryland in November 2014. However, an immigration judge in Baltimore ordered him to be deported back to Guatemala in October 2015 after he failed to show up to his removal hearing.
Baltimore County Police officers arrested him in January 2023 and lodged various child sex abuse charges against him. In April 2024, the Circuit Court for Baltimore County convicted Calderon-Interiano of sex offense 4th degree-sex contact and assault second degree.
Despite the court sentencing him to six years in prison and five years of probation, the court later suspended all of Calderon-Interiano’s prison time, according to ICE. The agency says he was ordered to register as a sex offender and then released by the Baltimore County Detention Center on an unknown date.
His release back into the community, ICE says, was done despite an immigration detainer lodged against him.
Despite his release back into the community by local law enforcement, deportation officers were able to apprehend Calderon-Interiano on their own near his Baltimore residence on Wednesday, and the agency says he will remain in their custody pending his removal from the country.
The Center for Immigration Studies lists Baltimore as “sanctuary city,” citing a 2014 ICE non-cooperation policy enacted by the policy commissioner in 2014.
The Baltimore County Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Featured image credit: Flickr/U.S. Department of Homeland Security
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