ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — ICE alleges Howard County corrections officials freed a convicted rapist illegally in the country.
Alex Yonatan Flores-Arce, a 20-year-old Honduran man, crossed the U.S. border in March 2019 via El Paso, Texas.
Police arrested Flores-Arce last October, on a warrant, for raping an underage girl at an International Food Market in Ellicott City.
ICE alleges Howard County freed convicted rapist in the country illegally
Court records show Flores-Arce and the victim once dated.
The victim reportedly told detectives the relationship felt forced, because Flores-Arce hit her if she declined to have sex.
On April 29, 2025, Flores-Arce pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years behind bars, followed by five-years of supervised probation.
Yet, Howard County Circuit Court judge Lara Weathersbee only ordered Flores-Arce to serve 193 days of his sentence, allowing him to walk free that same day.
ICE lodged an immigration detainer, in hopes of apprehending Flores-Arce upon release, but Howard County refused to honor the request.
Flores-Arce was rearrested May 8 for violating probation, only to be released May 22 on his own recognizance, despite now being a registered Tier III Sex Offender.
Federal agents, however, were there waiting for him outside the Howard County Detention Center.
“The decision by Howard County Detention Center to ignore our immigration detainer and release a removable individual with an egregious criminal history undermines public safety and put Maryland communities at risk,” said ICE Baltimore acting Field Office Director Nikita Baker. “This failure is not an isolated incident, but part of a concerning pattern we see all too often."
When we asked "How someone backing up nearly 15 years, who violates probation just days after release, is let back into the public?" Howard County's Director of Communications, Safa Hira, responded "Howard County cannot speak to the circumstances of his release."
Back in December 2020, the Howard County Council passed the Liberty Act, prohibiting local agencies from assisting with immigration enforcement, including citizenship status checks.
Voters codified the Liberty Act into the Howard County Code during the 2022 general election.
County Executive Calvin Ball further severed ties with ICE in March 2021 by terminating an agreement to house federal detainees.
"We are currently unaware of any federal law, state law, international treaty, or an existing intergovernmental service agreement that preempts the Liberty Act, and requires us to enforce immigration laws, or to hold a detainee beyond their release date as dictated by the Court that has jurisdiction over their criminal violation," said Hira. "If there were such a law, treaty, or agreement, that does preempt the Liberty Act, requires us to enforce immigration law, or hold a detainee beyond their release date we would welcome ICE to bring it to our attention, as it is our intention to stay in compliance with Federal law."
Earlier this year, WMAR-2 News reported on a study ranking Maryland tenth in the nation for ignoring ICE detainers.
Howard County Detention Center is among the facilities known to ignore ICE requests, hence their history of releasing undocumented migrants previously charged and/or convicted of murder.
Even without the help, ICE was still able to arrest a record 153 undocumented sex offenders in Maryland last year.
Flores-Arce's case is the latest example of increased ICE activity in our area.
On Tuesday ICE and the White House each released a video of agents swarming a group of suspected illegal migrants outside a Baltimore store.
When you call our Tip Line, we listen!
— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) May 28, 2025
A tip from the public led to the arrests of five illegal aliens near a big-box home improvement store in Baltimore May 20.
🎥Watch the action-packed arrest video.
☎️Report suspicious criminal activity: 866-DHS-2-ICE pic.twitter.com/FrqYV3wKoi
ICE didn't reveal where the May 20th encounter occurred, but said they received a public tip "near a big-box home improvement store."
"One Honduran and four Ecuadoran aliens were arrested," ICE said in a statement to WMAR-2 News. "All are illegally present and in violation of U.S. immigration law."
The next day federal authorities locked-up 25-year-old Alex Ernesto Saenz-Romero, of El Salvador.
Saenz is said to be an 18th Street gang member, who is wanted in his home country for aggravated homicide.
Earlier this month ICE nabbed another pair of Salvadoran men, Joel Armando Mejia-Benitez, 38, and Nelson Vladimir Amaya-Benitez, 26.
The feds say Mejia-Benitez is a member of the murderous MS-13 gang, wanted for firearms offenses in his home country.
Mejia-Benitez was picked up in Silver Spring on May 5.
He'd already been deported in 2006, but reentered undetected.
ICE ran into him again in 2014, yet he was able to remain in the U.S.
As for Amaya-Benitez, ICE tracked him down in Gaithersburg, on May 12.
He too is a suspected MS-13 gang member with a lengthy criminal record.
Amaya-Benitez came to the U.S. illegally in February 2016, byway of Hidalgo, Texas.
Customs officers released him with a court summons.
Within a month, Amaya-Benitez was charged and convicted twice of misdemeanor crimes throughout Texas.
He resurfaced in May 2017, as a robbery suspect in Rockville, Maryland.
A judge there issued a ten year prison term, suspending all but 18-months.
ICE deported Amaya-Benitez in August 2019, only for him to return undetected three-years later.
It wasn't long before Amaya-Benitez found himself back in police custody.
Like Howard County, Montgomery County refused to honor ICE detainers, resulting in Amaya-Benitez being let go on five separate occasions.
Over the next year, police arrested Amaya-Benitez four more times on charges ranging from auto theft to malicious burning.
Each time, Montgomery County failed to cooperate with ICE, instead choosing to set Amaya-Benitez free.
“ICE lodged five detainers— none of which were honored — allowing him to return to the streets and reoffend time and time again," said Baker. "This pattern is unacceptable."
Howard and Montgomery Counties aren't the only ones in Maryland resisting ICE efforts.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has gone as far to discourage law enforcement and hospitals from cooperating with ICE , threatening civil liability if they do.
Just last week the Chief judge for the United States District Court of Maryland issued a standing order, attempting to bar the Trump Administration from removing any and all illegal immigrants from the country, the minute they file a Habeas Corpus petition.
SEE ALSO: Man who entered U.S. illegally 3 times freed from Maryland jail despite brother's alleged murder
An In Focus look at the policy differences between Howard County and ICE.
Some agencies, including the Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, and Harford County Sheriff's Offices do assist ICE, by participating in the 287(g) program, which deputizes state and local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law.