A man accused of chaining up his girlfriend’s two children inside their home is an illegal migrant who had previously been deported, federal immigration authorities confirmed.
Franklin Arquimedes Viera-Guevara and his girlfriend, Wendi Del Cid Rodriguez, were arrested by police in Fairfax County, Virginia, after they responded to a call about a case of possible child neglect on the evening of Aug. 15, according to Fox 5. Guevara is a 29-year-old illegal migrant from El Salvador, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson stated to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Border Patrol arrested Guevara in November 2018 after he illegally crossed into the U.S. near McAllen, Texas, and was deported back to his home country in February 2019, according to the ICE spokesperson. However, the Salvadoran national later re-entered the U.S. at an unknown date and unknown location.
One of the boys who was allegedly being detained by Guevara took a picture of his chained ankle with his roommate’s phone and sent the picture to his sister, who then dialed 911, which prompted the police to come to the scene, according to Fox 5. Guevara and his girlfriend reportedly told law enforcement that they would chain her children up periodically in order to “scare them” from leaving the apartment.
Upon entering the home, police found the two boys, a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old, chained up to a post next to a sleeping cot.
Both Guevara and Rodriguez were charged with two counts of child cruelty, two counts of child neglect and two counts of child abduction, and both were taken to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, according to Fox 5. However, Rodriguez has since been released out on bond while her boyfriend remains detained and is wanted by deportation officers.
ICE has lodged an immigration detainer for Guevara with the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, which is a request for the jail to alert them before releasing Guevara so they can assume custody, the agency confirmed to the DCNF. The request could possibly lead to another standoff with federal immigration authorities and Fairfax County, which has been labeled as a “sanctuary” jurisdiction for repeatedly ignoring ICE detainer requests.
The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office previously confirmed to the DCNF that it does not honor ICE detainers without a judicial warrant.
Their policy of not honoring detainers without a judicial warrant has prompted numerous spats between the county and ICE, such as when the agency blasted Fairfax County authorities in July for ignoring a detainer and releasing back into the community an illegal migrant convicted of sexual intercourse with a minor. Later that month, the county’s one-and-only GOP supervisor called for an end to the sanctuary policies after two local murder suspects were confirmed to be living in the country illegally.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares’ office issued a statement on Thursday condemning sanctuary policies, arguing that local and state law enforcement have both “the authority and moral duty” to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, and encouraged all jurisdictions in the state to honor detainer requests.
“To our sheriffs who already cooperate with ICE on immigration matters: Thank you,” Miyares said in the statement. “To those who refuse to cooperate with ICE: Shame on you.”
A spokesperson for the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office on Friday said they were “in the process of reviewing” Miyares’ statement when reached for comment by the DCNF but declined to comment further.
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