Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin ripped the Biden-Harris administration on Thursday after it was revealed that a man arrested in the commonwealth for allegedly chaining up children inside a home is a previously deported illegal immigrant.
Franklin Viera Guevara, 29, an El Salvador native, was arrested in Fairfax County, Virginia, last month and charged with two counts of child neglect, two counts of child cruelty, and two counts of abduction. Police said they found two boys — ages 7 and 9 — chained up inside the home of Guevara’s girlfriend, 47-year-old girlfriend Wedni Del Cid Rodriguez, who is the boys’ mother.
Fox News’ Bill Melugin reported on Thursday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Guevara was deported in 2019 under the Trump administration before illegally making his way back into the U.S. “at an unknown date.”
“Another despicable crime committed by an illegal immigrant who is not supposed to be here. Too many innocent Virginians have suffered under the open border policies of the Biden-Harris Administration. Local officials in Fairfax County must uphold their duty to cooperate with ICE and keep Virginians safe. Enough is enough,” Youngkin wrote on X in response to the news. “Prosecute this criminal to the fullest extent of the law and deport him.”
Another despicable crime committed by an illegal immigrant who is not supposed to be here. Too many innocent Virginians have suffered under the open border policies of the Biden-Harris Administration. Local officials in Fairfax County must uphold their duty to cooperate with ICE… https://t.co/OIUlGCeIjz
— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) September 5, 2024
The illegal immigrant suspect in the case is currently being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center on no bond, Fox 5 D.C. reported.
Guevara and his girlfriend Rodriguez allegedly told officers that they kept the children chained up to “scare them” and prevent them from leaving the apartment. Guevara also allegedly said that the couple would leave the young boys alone, chained up in the apartment. According to court documents, one of the boys got ahold of a phone and sent a photo of his chained ankle to their sister, and the sister called the police.
Rodriguez was also arrested and charged with two counts of child neglect, two counts of child cruelty, and two counts of abduction. She was released on bond after her arrest.
Last month, an illegal immigrant from Bolivia — who had been apprehended at the southern border and then released — was arrested in Virginia and charged with seven counts of possession of child porn and possession of obscene material with a minor, Fox News reported. Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) said that 36-year-old Jose Fabricio Veizaga-Vargas is also a convicted sex offender “who victimized a minor in Northern Virginia.”
After his conviction, Veizaga-Vargas was sentenced to six months in prison, but his sentence was suspended. The ERO said that after his sentence was suspended, the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center refused to honor an ICE detainer request and released him from custody.
