‘When we’re talking about the safety of a child, there’s no room to play political games…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) The left-wing leaders in Charlottesville, Virginia, were so determined to vanquish the menace of Confederate monuments that they spurred a riotous 2017 clash, which resulted in three lost lives and brought worldwide media attention down upon the picturesque college town.
But went it comes to child-rapists, the sanctuary city seems to be in much less of a hurry to protect its citizens from the imminent threat in its midst.
Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Wednesday that the Albemarle–Charlottesville Regional Jail had ignored a detainer request in releasing 29-year-old Guatemalan national Marissa Martinez, who is accused of multiple counts involving indecent liberties with a child.
Additionally, although Martinez has resided in the area for less than a year, someone going by names similar to an alias of hers has racked up an array of charges for public intoxication and disorderly conduct, according to the Virginia Judiciary Online Case Information website.
“When detainers are ignored, and criminal aliens are released back in the community, our greatest fear is that they will reoffend,” said Russell Hott, Washington, D.C. field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, in a press statement.
Hott said that was the case with Martinez, who is alleged to have abused a child for a second time after her initial arrest.
“The Albemarle–Charlottesville Regional Jail chose to ignore a lawful detainer which would have kept this individual off the street and instead made a bad-faith attempt with one-hour notice, not just once, but twice,” Hott said.
According to the release, Martinez arrived in the U.S. in 2018 after crossing illegally at the San Ysidro Port of Entry near San Diego, Calif. and underwent an ankle-monitoring process for roughly half a year before being fully released into the population.
Shortly thereafter, she made her way east, and her first charges in the Charlottesville courts appeared around September 2019. In late November, she was arrested for misdemeanor sexual assault on a child.
Despite an ICE detainer, the local law-enforcement gave the federal agency only an hour’s notice and Martinez was released on bond.
In early January, she was re-arrested on charges of indecent liberties—this time a felony—but was again re-released 17 days later.
ICE finally was able to arrest her and initiate deportation proceedings on Feb. 3, said the press release.
In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump called on Congress to support legislation sponsored by Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, that would allow the victims or families of victims who suffered as the result of negligence from sanctuary jurisdictions to sue the local or state government that allowed the violations to occur.
Hott said supporting the safety and well-being of citizens should be paramount, regardless of whether one likes the president’s policies.
“When we’re talking about the safety of a child, there’s no room to play political games,” he said.