A California judge in the Bay Area released an illegal immigrant who had been in custody on burglary charges one day before prosecutors say he murdered a 68-year-old retiree in his Martinez neighborhood.Marcos Iriarte-Valdez had a prior criminal record and was facing burglary charges stemming from at least two incidents elsewhere in Contra Costa County, just east of San Francisco, when a judge in the Democratic-majority county ordered him released.The Department of Homeland Security told Fox News Digital it placed an immigration detainer on Iriarte-Valdez on Saturday, Sept.23, 2025."Valdezusper is charged with murder, inflicting corporal injury on spouse, three counts of burglary, receiving known stolen property, trespassing, entering non-commercial dwelling, loitering, as well as convicted of violation of court ordered protective order," the department said in a statement.FLORIDA CONGRESSMAN MOVES TO IMPEACH JUDGE WHO ORDERED CONVICTED CUBAN PLANE HIJACKER FREED FROM ICEA gavel, legal books, and a statue of Themis are displayed on a judge's desk.
(iStock)"CA Governor [Gavin Newsom] must not release this murderer from jail and turn him over to us so we can REMOVE him from our nation," the department later tweeted about Iriarte-Valdez, who is from Venezuela but reported to have Spanish citizenship."Sanctuary politicians must stop putting politics above public safety.This type of insanity leads to more crimes and more innocent victims," DHS said in a statement to Fox News Digital.Iriarte-Valdez is accused of murdering 68-year-old Todd Stewart of Martinez, who had lived on his quiet street for about 40 years, during an attempted burglary, prosecutors said.Contra Costa prosecutors previously charged Iriarte-Valdez in connection with burglaries at occupied residences in April.
He was on pretrial release in that case when he was arrested Tuesday for allegedly violating a home-detention condition, then ordered released on his own recognizance on Wednesday, one day before...