U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week detained a documented MS-13 gang member with an extensive arrest record, including assault and burglary, ICE told Fox News on Friday.
Mykol Santos-Santos, 25, a Guatemalan national in the country illegally, was apprehended by ICE Washington, D.C., in Fairfax, Virginia, on Monday.
During the arrest, Santos-Santos resisted and hurt an ICE officer.
Santos-Santos has been charged and convicted of assault and battery, burglary, credit card fraud, trespassing, drug crimes, property damage, obstruction of justice, fleeing police, failing to appear, and disobeying court orders.
ICE arrested him after the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center declined to uphold the agency’s 16th immigration detainer against him.
According to ICE, Santos-Santos’ criminal history exceeds 15 pages long, and he has been arrested more than 30 times by Fairfax County police.
He has also had 16 immigration detainers placed on him in the past three years.
“Mykol Santos-Santos is a habitual offender. He is a documented member of a violent criminal gang with a lengthy criminal history and represents an egregious danger to our Virginia communities,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Washington, D.C. Field Office Director Russell Hott said. “While we are happy to have arrested him, we find it inexcusable that local law enforcement refused to honor 16 separate immigration detainers against Santos-Santos, forcing ICE officers to make an at large arrest where one of our officers was injured.”
He continued, “We could have worked together with local law enforcement to arrange a safe transfer of custody. Instead, they decided to place politics ahead of public safety, and as a result one of our brave officers was injured. ICE Washington D.C. will continue to prioritize the safety of our public by arresting and removing criminal alien threats to our communities.”
Santos-Santos illegally entered the United States in 2014 through Texas, and a Department of Justice immigration judge ordered his deportation in 2023.
