Remember Montgomery County, Maryland? The county with a slew of illegal alien sex offenders arrested over the summer? Well, the D.C. suburb is also home to large numbers of transnational gang members, increasingly committing murder. Their ranks have been enlarged by the interminable flow of Central American teens across the border in recent years. Sadly, the parents and family members who “sponsor” these “children” now get amnesty under the budget bill Trump agreed to sign this year.

In what has become an all-too-familiar scene in the D.C. suburban area, Montgomery County police found the body of Sara Gutierrez-Villatoro, 19, shot dead in a wooded area in Dickerson, Maryland, on November 29 in what appeared to be a gang killing. Dickerson was once a quiet town in the more rural part of Montgomery County near the Potomac River but has now been exposed to the epidemic of illegal alien gangs. It wasn’t until the week before Christmas that local police announced the arrests of Jonathan Rivera-Escobar, 19; Geovany Dominguez, 24; Jordan Moreno, 21; and Rigoberto Machado, 16 – all part of an 18th Street gang clique in D.C. – for the November murder. The victim is believed to have been a member of the gang as well, who betrayed the other members.

What nobody has reported, however, is that at least two of them are confirmed illegal aliens who were resettled at taxpayer expense as “unaccompanied alien minors” in recent years. Worse, both of them were just recently released from D.C. local jail in defiance of ICE detainers.

“ICE has lodged detainers with Montgomery County Detention Center for two men charged with murder in the first degree,” said ICE’s Baltimore office in a statement to CR. “Geovany Alexander Godoy-Dominguez, 23, and Jonathan Rivera-Escobar, 19, were arrested in connection to a murder in Maryland in November. Godoy had previously been the subject of an ICE detainer after an Oct. 31 arrest by the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, but was released.”

ICE did not issue a statement on Moreno. As for Machado, because he is a minor, ICE will not comment on his immigration status.

In the statement, an ICE official noted how the local sanctuary policies in D.C. and its surrounding counties have allowed more needless crimes to be committed. “Sanctuary policies are reckless and dangerous for our communities,” said acting Deputy Executive Associate Director Henry Lucero. “How many catastrophic incidents need to occur before supporters of sanctuary policies realize that communities are safer when law enforcement works together?”

So, what is the story with Godoy-Dominguez? According to ICE, he is “an illegal alien from El Salvador” and is “an immigration fugitive.”

“Godoy was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol in Jan. 2013 after illegally entering the United States. He was an unaccompanied child at the time, was transferred to Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and subsequently released to his sponsor. On Mar. 11, 2015, an immigration judge ordered him removed from the United States when he failed to appear for his immigration hearing. On Oct. 31, 2019, following his arrest for possession of an unregistered firearm, ICE issued an immigration detainer and warrant of removal for Godoy with the D.C. Department of Corrections. On Nov. 3, 2019, the detainer and warrant were not honored and he was released instead of being turned over to ICE. ICE lodged a detainer Dec. 26 with Montgomery County Detention Center for Godoy following his arrest for murder.”

More than 90 percent of UAC sponsors are in the country illegally.

The same jurisdictions that are pushing gun control have no problem harboring other countries’ gun felons, when they could easily be removed by ICE. How Montgomery County officials could release an illegal alien gang member like Godoy-Dominguez after arresting him on a firearms charge is inexplicable.

Jonathan Rivera-Escobar is also an illegal alien from El Salvador. According to ICE, he was also settled as a UAC in June 2016 and had a prior arrest but was not turned over to ICE.  “As he was an unaccompanied minor, he was turned over to the HHS ORR and was subsequently released to his sponsor. On Sept. 6, Rivera was arrested and charged with unlawful entry of a motor vehicle and released prior to ICE placing a detainer. On Dec. 18, ICE lodged a detainer with Maryland County following his arrest for murder.”

Last year, ICE placed detainers on aliens charged with a total of 2,500 murders. Given that most murderers are repeat offenders, one can only imagine how many of these murders were 100 percent preventable, because their first criminal arrests should have triggered their removals. Had Rivera-Escobar and Godoy-Dominguez been handed over to ICE, the murder likely would never have happened.

Local authorities in Buncombe County, North Carolina, released a sex offender who is in the country illegally despite a federal immigration detainer request.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement news release sent out on Wednesday says that federal officers apprehended Salvadorian national Marvin Ramirez Torres in downtown Asheville, N.C., after he was released by local officials the day before.

According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, Torres was initially charged with four felony counts of statutory sex offense against an 11-year-old victim. Earlier this week, Torres was convicted of felony indecent liberties with a child and sentenced to time served, set for release, and ordered to register as a sex offender.

"The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office then refused to honor the ICE detainer and instead released him back into the community," the release explains, adding that federal officers got Torres outside the courthouse the next day when he showed up to register as a sex offender. Buncombe County Sheriff's Office confirmed the report and said that an ICE detainer doesn't count as a warrant to hold someone for immigration authorities.

“This is yet another example of a clear public safety threat being released into North Carolina communities rather than into ICE custody due to local sheriff policies on ICE non-cooperation,” acting ICE Director Matt Albence said in a statement. “Continued decisions to refuse cooperation with ICE serve as an open invitation to aliens who commit criminal offenses that these counties are a safe haven for persons seeking to evade federal authorities, and residents of Buncombe County are less safe due to these misguided sanctuary policies.”

Back in February, Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller announced that his department would no longer cooperate with federal immigration authorities on detaining illegal aliens already in custody. "The sheriff's office will continue to comply with all applicable state and federal laws, however we do not make or enforce immigration laws. That is not part of our law enforcement duties," Miller said.

At a Wednesday press conference about the release, Andrew Murray, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, blasted the "sheriff's dangerous policy of releasing illegal aliens that have been charged with criminal offenses, and even those that have been convicted of serious criminal offenses, back to the streets of our community."

"It is important to note that they are committing crimes unrelated to their immigration status," Murray added. "By removing these criminals from our streets, we are preventing them from victimizing other men, women and children."

This is just the latest sanctuary story to come out of North Carolina, as the  state has become a battleground of immigration enforcement. In September, ICE reported that some 500 of its detainer requests had been ignored by local officials in under a year. Later that month, the agency reported that officials in Wake County had released an illegal alien sex offender despite a detainer.

In August, ICE said that agents had arrested repeat immigration violator Oscar Pacheco-Leonardo, a 33-year-old Honduran national,  “during a targeted enforcement operation in Mecklenburg County.” The operation occurred “nearly two months after the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office refused to honor an ICE detainer, or even notify ICE of the release, and instead released [Pacheco-Leonardo] from local criminal custody following his arrest on first-degree rape and indecent liberties with a minor charges,” the agency said. Blaze Media later reported that the suspect had come over during the Obama administration and had previously destroyed his GPS ankle monitor, according to federal authorities.

Sanctuary jurisdictions will not cooperate with ICE to remove arrested illegal alien rapists or child sex offenders. What about those who attempt to murder people in front of their kids? Well, evidently, there is no floor to the lawlessness of places like King County, Washington.

On September 14, a man was taking his son to a Washington Huskies basketball game when he was suddenly stabbed in the back at the University of Washington light rail station. There were several incidents in Seattle’s downtown public transportation that shook up the public in recent weeks. But this particular incident should never have happened. On Monday, KIRO’s Dori Monson reported that the perpetrator was Nery Jovani Acevedo-Sanchez, an illegal alien who should have been deported numerous times for his criminal record.

I reached out to ICE and was informed that Acevedo-Sanchez is a Mexican citizen and is in the United States illegally. “Acevedo-Sanchez has an extensive criminal history and has been repeatedly released from local custody with no notification to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” said ICE spokeswoman Tanya Roman.

Acevedo-Sanchez’s jailbreak began with Obama’s sanctuary nation policies and ended with Seattle’s sanctuary city policies. According to ICE, back when local jurisdictions were actually following the law, ICE got hold of Acevedo-Sanchez twice in early 2013 after he was arrested on local charges. However, under the Obama administration’s new priorities of enforcement, he was let go into what’s called “Alternative to Immigration Detention” (ATD) and wound up disappearing. Obama didn’t view illegal aliens arrested for drugs or theft as a priority, and many of them were released during his second term in office.

A top Trump immigration official has responded to criticism from the government of a now-infamous sanctuary county in Maryland by challenging its council chairman to a debate.

Montgomery County, Maryland, has found itself in the news recently over the fact that at least seven illegal immigrants had been charged with rape in the jurisdiction in six weeks.

Acting United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) director Ken Cuccinelli took notice of the wave of illegal alien sex crime arrests, calling the situation "sad and tragic" on Tuesday morning.

On Thursday night, the county council put out a statement criticizing public portrayals of the county's problem.

"The recent crimes of rape and the sexual assaults that have occurred in Montgomery County are horrendously vile acts, and the alleged perpetrators of these crimes are currently going through the legal process and will receive their judgements in court," the statement said.

"There has been a lot inaccurate information spread by the White House, President Trump, Acting USCIS Director Ken Cuccinelli, local and national conservative news outlets and neo-Nazi sympathizers regarding our criminal justice system and its process," the statement asserted.

Montgomery County is indeed a sanctuary jurisdiction. The county government formally declared that it would not cooperate with federal immigration officials in June, but a noncooperation policy had already been in place for some time before that.

Cuccinelli responded to the statement with a series of tweets calling out the county government and challenging County Executive Mark Elrich to a debate.

"Sanctuary County, Montgomery County, MD cannot debate the failure of its sanctuary policies on the merits," Cuccinelli said, "so they resort to ad hominem attacks using nazi implications – arguments out of bounds in civil society."

"If MontCo Chairman Elrich thinks the sanctuary policy they are so proud of is so good, I challenge him to a debate on the subject," the immigration chief continued. "I’ll defend children and crime victims, Elrich can defend rapists and murders who shouldn’t even be in this country."

(2/3) If MontCo Chairman Elrich thinks the sanctuary policy they are so proud of is so good, I challenge him to a debate on the subject. Neutral location (e.g. cspan or webcast w/no audience present). 1 hr total, 2.5 min open & close, w/alternating 5 min blocks determined by lot.

— USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli (@USCISCuccinelli) September 6, 2019

(3/3) No moderator, only a timekeeper w/a hard stop (i.e., mic goes off at end of time). I’ll defend children and crime victims, Elrich can defend rapists and murders who shouldn’t even be in this country. What do you say, Mr. Chairman?

— USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli (@USCISCuccinelli) September 6, 2019

Montgomery County, Maryland, once again found itself the setting for rape and child molestation charges against illegal immigrants last week, and it has now earned direct criticism from a top Trump administration official.

WJLA-TV reported Thursday that Nestor Lopez-Guzman — a 21-year-old illegal alien from El Salvador — has been charged with child molestation against a 12-year-old girl and her younger brother. Guzman confessed to touching the boy's genitals, but called it a "cultural joke" from El Salvador. Lopez-Guzman's alleged female victim says that he got "touchative" and said things like "he ‘wanted it’ and to ‘give me it,’” according to court documents.

On Saturday, the same outlet reported that local authorities had also arrested 37-year-old illegal Honduran alien Emilio Carraso-Hernandez following allegations that he raped his 15-year-old stepdaughter multiple times over the course of several days, even once in her grandmother's bedroom. According to federal authorities, the suspect was deported in 2017 and illegally re-entered the United States afterward, though the time and means of re-entry are unknown.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services acting director Ken Cuccinelli weighed in on Montgomery County's illegal alien rape problem Tuesday morning with a tweet that referred to Lopez-Guzman's arrest and said, "More sanctuary Montgomery county consequences... sad and tragic."

WJLA points out that these are at least the sixth and seventh illegal immigrants arrested for rape in Montgomery County in the past six weeks.

Last month, Montgomery County authorities arrested two illegal aliens from El Salvador, Mauricio Barrera-Navidad, 29, and Carlos Palacios-Amaya, 28, for raping an 11-year-old child. Then came the case of Rodrigo Castro-Montejo, a Salvadoran illegal immigrant who was apprehended by immigration officials after Montgomery County ignored an ICE detainer and released him on bond despite second-degree rape charges. After that, 26-year-old Kevin Mendoza was arrested and charged with first-degree rape and attempted murder earlier this week in the Washington suburb of Silver Spring. Case number 5 made headlines earlier last week after a Salvadoran illegal immigrant was arrested and charged with the rape of a 16-year-old girl at knifepoint.

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 aliens was from Guatemala, the other from El Salvador.