A Honduran national who was convicted of a crime in Maryland was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on May 22. 

Alex Yonatan Flores-Arce, 20, entered the U.S. illegally, according to ICE. 

U.S. Border Patrol encountered him near El Paso, Texas, in March 2019, where he was served with a notice to appear. 

Howard County fails to honor ICE detainer 

In announcing Flores-Arce’s arrest, ICE also accused Howard County of ignoring a request to keep him detained. Immigration officials said Flores-Arce was released back into the community twice. 

Flores-Arce was arrested in October 2024 and charged with rape in Howard County. He was found guilty in April and sentenced to 15 years in prison and five years of probation.

ICE said they submitted an immigration detainer for Flores-Arce on January 13 to the Howard County Department of Corrections. 

An immigration detainer is a request that ICE submits to state or local law enforcement, asking them to hold a person for up to 48 hours and send a notification before releasing a suspect. It allows federal immigration officials time to take a person into custody.

According to ICE, the department did not honor the detainer and instead released Flores-Arce from custody on May 5. 

On May 8, Flores-Arce was arrested for violating his probation. He was arrested by ICE as he left the detention center, officials said. 

“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,” ICE Baltimore acting Field Office Director Nikita Baker said.

Flores-Arce has a final administrative removal order and remains in ICE’s custody. 

Howard County designated as sanctuary jurisdiction 

Howard County was among eight Maryland counties that the Trump administration recently designated as sanctuary jurisdictions.

The designation came after an executive order from the President on April 28 required the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to share a list of states, cities and counties that “obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws.” 

According to the administration, sanctuary jurisdictions are locations that “deliberately and shamefully” ignore federal immigration laws.

“Sanctuary cities protect dangerous criminal aliens from facing consequences and put law enforcement in peril,” DHS said. 

According to ICE Baltimore officials, Flores-Arce’s arrest was not the first time that Howard County failed to honor an immigration detainer. 

“This failure is not an isolated incident, but part of a concerning pattern we see all too often,” Baker said in a statement. “…Working together with local jurisdictions is the only way to keep our neighborhoods safe and uphold the rule of law.”