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First on Fox: A federal judge has ordered federal immigration authorities to release an illegal immigrant gang member with multiple unlawful entries into the United States and whose criminal history includes rape and robbery, Fox News Digital has learned.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson, an Obama appointee, ordered the release of Carlos Antonio Flores-Miguel, an MS-13 gang member from El Salvador, from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.
“This activist, Obama-appointed judge RELEASED Carlos Antonio Flores-Miguel, a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador and MS-13 gang member, from ICE Custody,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “Releasing violent criminals is inexcusably reckless and now this criminal will be able to perpetrate more crimes against innocent Americans.”
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Carlos Antonio Flores-Miguel, an MS-13 gang member from El Salvador, has been ordered released from custody by a federal judge. (Getty Images; Department of Homeland Security)
Flores-Miguel was released into the United States under the Biden administration in 2022, DHS said.
On Jan. 20, he was arrested by ICE in Minneapolis, when he violently resisted by punching and kicking ICE law enforcement officers, authorities said. In addition, he allegedly grabbed an ICE officer’s gun holster.
Among Flores-Miguel’s crimes in the U.S. include rape, resisting an officer, and illegal re-entry. He was previously arrested in his native country for robbery.
“President Trump is enforcing the law and arresting illegal aliens who have no right to be in our country,” Bis said. “We are applying the law as written. If an immigration judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period.”
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A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer’s badge and gear. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Flores-Miguel illegally entered the U.S. in September 2016 and was deported the following month. He entered the U.S. illegally again and was removed in March 2017, DHS said.
In October 2021, Flores-Miguel illegally entered the U.S. a third time and was released in June 2022. A judge subsequently ordered his deportation after ruling that Flores-Miguel could be removed to any country other than El Salvador.
His case “illustrated” the importance of third country removals to get criminal illegal immigrants out of the U.S., DHS said.
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A federal appeals court recently agreed to allow the Trump administration to continue to deport immigrants to nations other than their home countries, despite objections from critics who said the move puts migrants in danger.
In her order, Nelson cited the administration for “recklessly” publishing Flores-Miguel’s photo on a DHS website, describing him as one of the “Worst of the Worst.”
“Respondents make no attempt to explain why Mexico, or any country, would agree to accept the ‘Worst of the Worst’,” she wrote.