DHS arrests El Salvador’s most wanted MS-13 leader among Virginia fugitives
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SPECIAL: Immigration has become a defining issue in Virginia as voters weigh which candidates will best protect their families after the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News Digital this week that some of the “worst of the worst” criminals have been arrested in the state.
Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee, confirmed she is the candidate focused on protecting Virginians, while Democratic former Rep. Abigail Spanberger pointed to her resume as a federal agent while under pressure on law and order issues.
In the most notable of arrests, DHS announced the capture of El Salvador’s most wanted MS-13 leader, who is also among the most wanted fugitives overall.
Ismael Enrique Mendoza Flores, known as “El Calaco” (The Skeleton), was wanted in El Salvador for felony murder and unlawful dealings and had previously been charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle in the United States.
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Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, left; ICE agents, right (DHS; ICE)
ICE arrested Flores in Alexandria, citing an active arrest warrant from San Salvador. He was previously arrested in Virginia for unauthorized use of a vehicle.
Flores allegedly told authorities that he entered the United States under the Obama administration, and DHS said the “Democrat government shutdown” would not allow law enforcement to secure the border at this point.
“This MS-13 gang member was wanted for murder. These are the kind of illegal criminal aliens that sanctuary politicians in Virginia are protecting while demonizing law enforcement,” Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
“President Trump and Secretary Noem will not allow gang members to terrorize American citizens.”
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Speaking generally about the seizures, McLaughlin added that for too long politicians have allowed violent foreign criminals to victimize innocent Americans through lax border policies.
DHS also obtained custody of two juveniles whose speeding on northbound I-295 near the Chickahominy River east of Richmond came to the attention of Hanover County police.
The occupants of the speeding BMW reportedly fired guns as they ran toward the Henrico County line. A Hanover deputy who pulled over another driver noticed the car and followed. Reports said the two teens then crashed the car on the Mechanicsville Turnpike as it approached the Richmond city line.
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The youths, who were sent to a juvenile detention center in Williamsburg, were facing multiple charges when DHS intervened; McLaughlin told Fox News Digital they were released by the Biden administration as “unvetted” immigrants.
“ICE has deployed a detention officer to ensure these public safety threats do not return to Virginia roadways,” he said.
A convicted pedophile from Guatemala was also involved in DHS’s operations in the Old Dominion.
Rick Martinez-Lopez’s criminal record includes sexual assault of a child, failure to register as a sex offender and probation violation.
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The Richmond city jail told DHS in August that it would not honor a detainee placed in Martinez-Lopez and would instead release the child predator.
ICE later caught up with him, the department said, and McLaughlin criticized the former capital of the Confederacy for allowing the pedophile to “roam free.”
“[It] “It is barbaric,” he said. “It is unconscionable to think that sanctuary policies and political activists would choose to protect this patient over our own nation’s children. “Every sanctuary politician in Virginia puts the safety of Americans at risk with their dangerous and lawless policies.”
Another violent illegal immigrant, Ricardo Leonel Mejia from El Salvador, was convicted of repeatedly raping 11-year-old Virginia.
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He was arrested and sentenced to 30 years in prison before DHS intervened and asked for his own custody.
McLaughlin said Mejia was marked as a “non-enforcement priority” by the Biden administration, which allowed him to remain on the streets.
Mejia was hired to renovate the bathroom of a Virginia Beach home, during which he raped a teenage girl three times.
Mejia claimed in court that he “had a hard time” and was “sorry for the pain” [the girl] It’s passing.”
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Earle-Sears, who represented the resort in the House of Representatives in the 2000s, said she was “incredibly sickened” by the case.
Fox News Digital has reached out to both campaigns for further comment on the arrests and their prominence ahead of the November election.
