Federal officials are urging California’s Democrat governor to hand over the illegal alien accused of stabbing 68-year-old retiree Todd Stewart to death outside his Martinez home one day after the suspect was released from custody.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to turn the accused killer over to them, Fox News reported Wednesday.
“This Venezuelan illegal alien STABBED A FATHER TO DEATH in sanctuary California. @CAgovernor must NOT RELEASE this murderer from jail and turn him over to us so we can REMOVE him from our nation,” DHS wrote in a social media post on Tuesday:
Fox identified the suspect as Marcos Iriarte-Valdez. He has a prior criminal record and is also facing burglary charges linked to two incidents in Contra Costa County, the outlet reported Wednesday.
A Newsom-appointed judge released the suspect a day before the killing occurred in the elderly man’s front yard, according to the New York Post. The outlet identified the official as Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Nichelle Holmes.
The Post article continued:
Iriarte-Valdez, who has been in the US since 2007, was already in trouble with the law and was granted pretrial release by Holmes for a residential burglary case when he was jailed last Tuesday for allegedly violating the terms of his home detention monitoring.
Holmes was appointed to her post by Newsom in 2024. She shockingly let Iriarte-Valdez walk just about 24 hours before he allegedly committed the horrific killing of Stewart.
Holmes described herself as a protester in a profile published by her law school alma mater in 2017.
DHS said the suspect was charged with murder, inflicting corporal injury on spouse, three counts of burglary, receiving known stolen property, trespassing, entering non-commercial dwelling, loitering, and convicted of violation of court ordered protective order. Prosecutors working on the case also added enhancements against the illegal alien.
Iriarte-Valdez allegedly murdered Stewart during an attempted burglary. The suspect is also accused of trying to run from the victim’s home after Stewart confronted him and the stabbing occurred.
Disturbing video footage showed the moments the two men struggled on the sidewalk, according to a clip DHS shared:
“Another innocent American was killed because of California’s reckless sanctuary policies. How many more innocent people have to die before Gavin Newsom and sanctuary politicians stop playing games with the safety of Americans?” officials wrote in the caption of the post.
DHS told Fox it put an immigration detainer on the suspect in September. Fox added, “DHS said Iriarte-Valdez was legally admitted to the U.S. during the George W. Bush administration but has since been classified as an ‘illegal alien.’”
