ICE Arrests Guatemalan Man in Los Angeles After Sanctuary Officials Refused Detainer; His Record Includes Drug Trafficking and Theft
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in an October 29 statement that ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers in Los Angeles arrested Juan Jose Leonardo De Leon, a Guatemalan national, on October 19, after Los Angeles sanctuary officials had refused an ICE detainer and released him back onto the streets.
DHS said De Leon's convictions include possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance for sale, and grand theft of stolen copper materials, along with arrests for receiving known stolen property and grand theft auto. ICE lodged a detainer after the Los Angeles Police Department arrested him on the grand theft charge in January 2026, but sanctuary officials refused to honor it. De Leon was lawfully admitted to the United States in February 2004 and remained illegally after his authorized stay expired in April 2004.
"Sanctuary politicians in California refused to honor ICE's detainer and released this convicted drug trafficker and thief back onto the streets," Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said. "Thankfully, because of the hard work of the brave patriots of ICE, we've arrested this criminal and taken him off the streets."
The statement also cited a series of other recent ICE detainer cases across California as background, including a fatal semi-truck crash in Ontario, a sexual assault at a Sacramento daycare, and a stabbing that killed two women and a baby in Modesto.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国移民与海关执法局执法与遣返行动局（ERO）的一名官员。ICE 官方照片，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / An ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
