ICE lodges immigration detainer against criminal illegal alien who allegedly abused and violently murdered 3-year-old nephew

WASHINGTON - ICE has lodged an immigration detainer against Samuel Antonio Maldonado-Erazo, a criminal illegal alien accused of violently abusing and then murdering his three-year-old nephew March 4. Maldonado-Erazo's sister, Wendy Esther Hernandez Reyes, was the little boy's mother; she was removed from the U.S. Jan. 26 and chose not to take her U.S. citizen child with her.

"This crime is absolutely sickening," said ICE Director Todd M. Lyons. "This little boy suffered extensively and died when his mother abandoned him to Maldonado-Erazo's 'care' - and Maldonado-Erazo himself is an illegal alien who never should've been in this country in the first place. I encourage parents to self-deport with their children, but even if they choose not to do that, ICE gives them the opportunity to be removed with their kids. But despite that option, Reyes chose to leave her son here with a violent murderer who took his life."

ICE encountered Maldonado-Erazo March 5 in Florida at the Escambia County Sheriff's Office Jail after his arrest. He illegally entered the U.S. in August 2021, under the Biden administration's catastrophic catch-and-release policies, and was released into the country with his own daughter, a Honduran national. Maldonado-Erazo's wife has been taken into custody, and their three children - two of whom are U.S. citizens - are in the custody of the Florida Department of Child Services.

The three-year-old child's injuries were consistent with sustained abuse. According to local reports, Maldonado-Erazo brought the child to work with him and ignored signs that the little boy was in extreme distress. The child died at the hospital after someone called 911 to report that he was in cardiac arrest. Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said the child's injuries included at least 17 strikes to the head, extensive bruising, intentional burns, a broken collarbone, a transected pancreas from blunt trauma, and several broken ribs - one of which was completely detached from his spine.

Maldonado-Erazo did not have a criminal history in the U.S. prior to his arrest for murdering his nephew - other than entering the U.S. illegally - but is now charged with manslaughter. ICE has lodged an immigration detainer against him with the Escambia County Sheriff's Office and is determined to remove him if or when he is released from custody.

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