Immigrant charged with raping minor, stabbing man was released under Biden-Harris policies: report

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, September 05, 2024

A U.S. Border Patrol agent body searches illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border on May 12, 2023, in El Paso, Texas. The U.S. Covid-era Title 42 immigration policy ended the night before. Border authorities and U.S. citizens are concerned about the massive influx of asylum claims and the humanitarian crisis facilitated by cartels trafficking drugs and humans into the U.S. | John Moore/Getty Images

An illegal immigrant accused of raping a 14-year-old girl and repeatedly stabbing a man during a robbery was arrested in connection with the crimes only a few months after his release from custody at the southwest border, a congressional report alleges.

The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement released a report Tuesday detailing the actions of a 19-year-old Honduran national.

Critical of the Biden-Harris administration's immigration policies, the report cited figures stating that the administration has released 5.6 million illegal immigrants into the United States within the last four years, and another 1.9 million escaped into the country during this time.

One of the millions of illegal immigrants released by the Biden-Harris administration was 19-year-old Honduran Angel Matias Castellanos-Orellana. Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, encountered Castellanos-Orellana on Oct. 6, 2023.

Castellanos-Orellana claimed that he had no "credible fear" of being returned to his native country. However, he was released with a notice to appear in immigration court on an "Order of Release on own Recognizance."

The release was due to a reported lack of space, and the immigrant received instructions to report to ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in New Orleans on Nov. 7, 2023. According to the congressional report, the Department of Homeland Security's data shows it had the space to detain Castellanos-Orellana.

A public affairs officer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told The Christian Post that Castellanos-Orellana reported to the ERO New Orleans Field Office for his initial report on Nov. 7, 2023, and had no prior criminal record or arrests in the United States.

In February 2024, police in Kenner, Louisiana, arrested Castellanos-Orellana in connection with what the report described as the "brutal assault" of a 14-year-old girl and the stabbing of a man during a robbery.

Castellanos-Orellana was "charged with armed robbery, aggravated battery, first-degree rape[,] and aggravated assault for the two incidents," according to the report.

"The disastrous immigration policies of the Biden-Harris Administration have had real-world consequences for American citizens. The effects of those policies will be felt for years to come, with criminal aliens in American neighborhoods harming families and hurting public safety across the country," the committee's report stated.

"Castellanos-Orellana's victims and their families will never be the same because the Biden-Harris Administration allowed the illegal alien to enter and remain in the Country," the report continued. "Tragically, Castellanos-Orellana's victims and their families are not alone."

Last month, the committee and subcommittee released an 8-page report blaming the Biden-Harris administration's immigration policies for the murder of Laken Riley. The 22-year-old nursing student was murdered while she was out for a run in February. Her body was later discovered on the University of Georgia campus.

The man arrested for the 22-year-old woman's murder, Jose Antonio Ibarra, entered the country illegally through El Paso, Texas, on Sept. 8, 2022. The DHS also cited detention capacity as the reason for Ibarra's release; however, the report argued that the agency's data showed it could have detained the immigrant.

"As a result of his release, Ibarra was free to commit crimes in the United States, including allegedly kidnapping and murdering Laken Riley in Georgia," the committee and its subcommittee stated in the document.

Before Riley's murder, Ibarra and his brother, Diego, had also previously been charged with shoplifting from a Walmart. Despite previous encounters with law enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not file a detainer against Ibarra until after the killing.

"The information obtained by the Committee shows in stark terms the real-world consequences of the Biden-Harris Administration's failure to secure the border and enforce immigration law," the report stated. "Taken as a whole, the Committee's investigation into the criminal illegal aliens the Biden-Harris Administration has allowed to enter the United States exposes the widespread failure to adequately vet, apprehend, detain, and remove illegal aliens."

Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman