A local news investigation found that judges in Maryland's “sanctuary” jurisdictions were handing out disproportionately light sentences to illegal immigrants accused of child sex crimes.

FOX45 News Combed 99 child sex crime cases handled by Baltimore County Circuit Court judges over a 17-month period between Jan. 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024. The investigation found that circuit court judges repeatedly handed down lighter sentences to defendants who were in the U.S. illegally, while at the same time handing down heavier sentences to African-Americans charged with similar crimes. (Related story: Pro-sanctuary city Democrats complain that ICE didn't notify local police before arrests)

“I am appalled and outraged that a child could be sexually abused,” Maryland Democratic Rep. Kweisi Mfume said in response to the findings. according to FOX 45. “I have no sympathy for people who are convicted of crimes like this, whether they're illegal immigrants or American citizens.”

Some of the illegal immigrants investigated had been repeatedly deported from the United States and had been charged with serious sexual crimes, including child rape.

The suspect in question, Luis Portillo Enriquez, had entered the US illegally and had been arrested multiple times by Maryland State Police over the past few years, but was convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl in his Baltimore home and later given a 25-year sentence, which was later commuted to just 18 months.

In another example, Arles Efrain Avila was arrested multiple times by deportation officers and sent back to his native Honduras, according to Fox 45. But when he was arrested in January 2023 in Baltimore County on multiple child sex crimes charges, a judge only sentenced him to five years probation.

A Fox45 investigation found that of 99 cases investigated over a 17-month period, about 10 percent involved illegal immigrants from Central America.

The investigation also found that the Baltimore County Circuit Court handed down harsher sentences to African-Americans charged with similar crimes, according to FOX45. In three similar cases, African-American defendants were reportedly sentenced to more than four years in prison, while other black defendants received sentences of more than 12 years in prison.

“We are appalled by the shocking data that shows Black offenders receive harsher sentences for sex offenses than other offenders,” Baltimore County Republican Representatives Cathy Scelzier and Ryan Nawrocki told FOX45 in response to the findings. “Soft on crime laws and justice are dangerous and must change.”

Baltimore County has historically been a “sanctuary” jurisdiction, with local laws prohibiting county police from arresting undocumented immigrants solely on the basis of their immigration status. according to FOX45. But after local backlash, county leaders Proposed They will step up cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

A spokesman for the Baltimore County Circuit Court did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

DCNF research found that other county courts in Maryland also give lighter sentences to undocumented immigrants accused of child sex crimes.

DCNF was on scene when ICE agents arrested Darwin Adonai Garcia-Garcia, a 21-year-old Honduran national who is illegally present in the U.S. Garcia-Garcia was originally sentenced to 30 years in prison for convictions of false imprisonment and sexual offenses against a minor, but a Prince George's County Circuit Court judge suspended all but 229 days of his sentence, allowing him to immediately return to his local community.

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