They allegedly kidnapped a Frederick High School student and sexually assaulted her for hours, but news that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE had encountered one of the two suspects, 19-year old Victor Gonzalez-Guttierres, five months earlier angers Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins.
"It makes me mad as hell that we have someone in this country illegally, has been encountered, arrested and hasn't been removed like he should have been,” said Jenkins, “That's the breakdown of the system."
ICE has issued a statement acknowledging it became aware of Gonzalez-Guttierres on April 24th after his arrest on local charges and issued him a notice to appear in immigration court.
But the teen posted immigration bond three days later and virtually vanished from the system after receiving probation before judgement on failure to obey a lawful order and resisting arrest charges.
Jenkins says Gonzalez-Guttierres doesn't even qualify as a dreamer, since his isn't a deferred action or DACA case.
He simply slipped into the country unnoticed with no legal status.
"We need to have, again, not immigration reform, but reform in the immigration enforcement system,” said Jenkins, “We need to have more federal judges... more immigration judges. Right now, if you get out on immigration bond, it could be years before you get a hearing. It needs to be fixed. It needs to be changed. These criminals need to be deported now."
In court documents, one person interviewed in the rape case suggested both of the suspects were known to have gang ties, and the sheriff says that underscores the need to detect, to detain and to deport those who threaten the public's safety.
"It's absolutely related to the local gang problem,” said Jenkins, “This MS-13 is a nationwide gang problem, specifically here in this region, we have one of the largest populations and influx of gang members across the country. This is what we deal with every single day. Absolutely related to the nationwide gang problem."
ICE has now lodged an immigration detainer with Frederick County for Gonzalez-Guttierres after his most recent arrest on criminal charges.
