Honduran Migrant Charged With Rape of 8-Year-Old Girl Detained by ICE

An illegal migrant who disappeared after serving time for the sexual battery of a young girl has been apprehended by immigration officials.
Carlos Vasquez, a 28-year-old Honduran national, was charged with the rape of an 8-year-old girl in 2017. He was convicted of the lesser charge of sexual battery in 2019 and sentenced to six months in prison, with credit for time served. He was “erroneously” released from custody around that time, according to ICE.
Vasquez was caught by Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) New Orleans at a worksite in Baton Rouge, Louisiana last week.
It is unknown when, where, or how he entered the U.S.
In April 2017, ERO Baton Rouge issued a detainer on Vasquez after his arrest on charges that included indecent behavior with juveniles, first-degree rape and oral sexual battery of an eight-year-old girl.
In November of 2019, he pleaded guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor, receiving a $500 fine, court costs of $235, and one year on supervised probation.
However, on the same day, the Honduran national was “erroneously released” from custody at Franklin Parish Detention Center without ERO Baton Rouge being notified, according to a statement by ICE.
In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, ERO Baton Rouge said: “Our communities are safer today with the arrest of this predator.”
The arrest comes after three illegal immigrants accused of raping children were among half a dozen alleged sex offenders rounded up by immigration officials on Nantucket in September.
The group, all in the U.S. without authorization, were arrested in a multi-day operation by the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations unit in the tony Massachusetts enclave, where the average home is valued at $2.7 million.
In August, an illegal immigrant was arrested as part of a police sting operation targeting alleged child sexual abuse in New York State, which also saw another suspect take his own life.
Wilver O. Laparra-Gonzalez, 34, is accused of paying $80 to have sex with who he thought was a 14-year-old girl but was in fact an undercover cop.
A man from Honduras who raped a 13-year-old girl he met online in Virginia and then assaulted an immigration officer attempting to arrest him was sentenced to five years in prison in July.
ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations unit said that Lemus-Ramos raped his victim after she refused his advances, before pressuring her to send him nude photos.
ERO is a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) responsible for enforcing immigration laws.
Its primary functions include identifying, apprehending, and removing individuals who are in the U.S. illegally or who have been ordered deported. ERO focuses on public safety, prioritizing the apprehension of individuals with criminal backgrounds or those who pose a threat to the community.
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