Previously Deported Illegal Immigrant Charged with Raping Child Under 13

A previously deported illegal immigrant from Mexico — who was released from local custody last year after officials ignored a federal immigration request to hold him — has been charged with raping a child under the age of 13.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it has filed a detainer with Philadelphia authorities against 45-year-old Ramon Aguirre-Ochoa, a Mexican national who was previously deported in May 2009 and is now is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, indecent assault on person less than 13, indecent exposure, and simple assault.

Aguirre-Ochoa was arrested on July 26 and currently being held at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia on a half-million dollar bail.

This most recent attempt to deport Aguirre-Ochoa is at least the second time ICE has attempted to take Aguirre-Ochoa into custody by placing an immigration detainer with Philadelphia officials against him. The last time ICE filed a detainer with Philadelphia for Aguirre-Ochoa was in 2015 and local officials ignored the request and released him.

As the ICE explained in its press release, “As a prior deportee, Aguirre-Ochoa was slated to have his removal order reinstated and be removed in 2015 after local criminal charges stemming from March 2014, against him were dismissed. At that time, Aguirre-Ochoa was released from local custody when Philadelphia authorities failed to honor an ICE detainer. He remained at large until his most recent arrest.”

Undeterred from Philadelphia’s past failure to honor federal immigration detainer against Aguirre-Ochoa, ICE says it has filed another detainer “requesting he be safely transferred to ICE custody after the current local charges are resolved, to include any potential convictions and subsequent prison term.”

Cities and jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials — colloquially known as sanctuary cities — have come under fire following the high profile murder of Kathryn Steinle at the hands of a multiple-deportee illegal immigrant with a lengthy rap sheet.

Philadelphia is considered a sanctuary city, incorporating policies that prohibit local law enforcement officials from honoring detainers or notifying immigration officials of upcoming releases of criminal illegal immigrants unless the offender has been convicted of a violent felony.