Man suspected in attempted abduction of Virginia 4-year-old was in country illegally, ICE says
Suspect in attempted abduction of Annandale child in country illegally: ICE
FOX 5 has learned the man arrested for burglary and attempted abduction of a child is here in the country illegally. We spoke exclusively with the child’s mother on Friday. Now, we’ve learned the would-be kidnapper, 24-year-old Hyrum Baquedano Rodriguez had several ICE immigration detainers against him. FOX 5’s Tisha Lewis has more from Annandale.
ANNANDALE, Va. - A man accused of breaking into an Annandale apartment and attempting to abduct a 4-year-old girl was in the country illegally, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
The terrifying incident happened in the early morning hours of June 15. Fairfax County Police said officers responded to a home in the 7500 block of Little River Turnpike after receiving a call reporting a burglary and an attempted abduction of a child.
When they arrived, the 4-year-old's mother said she woke up when she heard her daughter crying and saw the window in her room had been opened. The child told her mother someone grabbed her and then ran away.
Investigators say a fingerprint led them to 24-year-old Hyrum Baquedano-Rodriguez who was arrested the following day.
ICE officials say Baquedano-Rodriguez is a national of Honduras and describe him as an "unlawfully present noncitizen." They say he was first encountered by U.S. Border Patrol in Yuma, Arizona on August 25, 2018.
Mother of 4-year-old almost abducted in Annandale speaks out
The man accused of breaking into an Annandale apartment and attempting to abduct a 4-year-old girl is now behind bars.
According to an ICE spokesperson, USBP issued Baquedano-Rodriguez a Notice to Appear on August 26 of that year and transferred him to Eloy, Arizona just a few days later on August 30.
On October 29, 2018, an immigration judge with the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review in Eloy granted Baquedano-Rodriguez a $15,000 bond. On January 22, 2019, he bonded out of custody.
Officials say ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in Washington, D.C. placed immigration detainers on Baquedano-Rodriguez on November 10, 2021, July 22, 2022, November 25, 2022, and again on February 17, 2023, with Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.
ICE officials say the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center ignored the detainers and released Baquedano-Rodriguez on each occasion without notifying them. They say another immigration detainer was placed on him on June 24, 2023.
"I'm traumatized to be quite honest with you. She is 4 years old," the victim's mother told FOX 5 last week. "It's not that she's not comfortable, but you can tell there are signs of trauma that's left behind from this, and I'm going to have to get her some type of counseling as well as myself. "
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Spokesperson Statement:
"As part of its mission to identify and arrest removable noncitizens, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) lodges immigration detainers against noncitizens who have been arrested for criminal activity and taken into custody by state or local law enforcement. An immigration detainer is a request from ICE to state or local law enforcement agencies to notify ICE as early as possible before a removable noncitizen is released from their custody.
Detainers request that state or local law enforcement agencies maintain custody of the noncitizen for a period not to exceed 48 hours beyond the time the individual would otherwise be released, allowing ERO to assume custody for removal purposes in accordance with federal law.
Noncitizens placed into removal proceedings receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the DOJ's Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR is a separate entity from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case, determining if a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal or eligible for certain forms of relief from removal. Once a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge or other lawful means, ICE officers may carry out the removal.
U.S. immigration laws allow noncitizens to pursue relief from removal; however, once they have exhausted all due process and appeals, the noncitizens remain subject to a final order of removal from an immigration judge and that order must be carried out."