Law enforcement officials in Charles County, Maryland, have released a convicted rape man who was living illegally in the country, suspending almost the entirety of his 20-year sentence, ignoring requests to turn him over to deportation officials.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Henry Argueta Tovar, a 19-year-old Guatemalan national who is in the U.S. illegally, in Waldorf, Maryland, on Wednesday, the agency announced. press releaseDeportation officers were able to arrest Argueta Tovar after local authorities refused to cooperate with requests to transfer him to their custody. (Related: ICE arrests illegal immigrant accused of raping disabled child after being released by protective custody)

“After illegally entering our country, Henry Argueta Tovar traveled to Maryland and victimized one of our residents,” said Vernon Riggins, deputy director of ERO Baltimore's acting field office. “We cannot allow him to continue to terrorize our community.”

“ERO Baltimore will continue to prioritize public safety by relentlessly pursuing illegal sexual predators and foreign nationals who commit violent crimes,” Riggins continued.

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), federal immigration authorities first encountered Argueta Tovar when he entered the United States illegally as a minor and was apprehended by Border Patrol near El Paso, Texas, in May 2019. Border Patrol transferred his custody to ICE, who eventually released him into the US on bail.

According to ICE, the Charles County Sheriff's Office charged Argueta Tovar with second-degree rape and arrested him on Dec. 22. The department filed a detention request on Dec. 27, which requires local authorities to notify deportation officials when immigrants are released from custody, but ICE said the Charles County Detention Center refused to honor the immigrant detention request.

According to ICE, the Guatemalan national was convicted of second-degree rape in Charles County Circuit Court and sentenced to 20 years in prison, but the court later suspended his sentence to 190 days.

Argueta Tovar was released from a local detention center on July 3. According to His profile is on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry. He is registered as a “Tier 3” sex offender in the state. He must remain He will be on the sex offenders' register for life.

Deportation officers were able to arrest him in Waldorf, Maryland, on Wednesday, and he remains in the agency's custody, ICE confirmed.

This is not the first time that a convicted illegal immigrant has had his sentence significantly reduced in a Maryland courtroom.

The Daily Caller News Foundation last month observed the arrest by ICE of Darwin Adonai Garcia-Garcia. Garcia-Garcia was convicted of sex offenses and false imprisonment in Prince George's County Circuit Court in May and sentenced to 30 years in prison, but the court suspended his sentence by just 229 days, allowing him to quickly reintegrate back into the community.

A local news investigation in July found that Baltimore County Circuit Court judges had repeatedly given light sentences to illegal immigrants charged with child sex crimes, even though the immigrants had multiple arrests and convictions for heinous crimes such as child molestation.

Charles County, Maryland, leans heavily Democratic. According to local election results. A county spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DNCF.

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