An illegal immigrant from El Salvador convicted of groping multiple high school girls in Fairfax County, Virginia, has been deported after federal immigration agents arrested him in the days before he was set to walk free from local custody.
Israel Flores-Ortiz was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on August 31 and deported to El Salvador this week, according to an ICE spokesperson. He had just completed roughly nine months in Fairfax County custody after being convicted of touching the private parts of nine schoolgirls at Fairfax High School earlier this year, despite initially facing a sentence of several years.
“This groper is gone,” an ICE spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Israel Flores-Ortiz, an illegal alien who groped multiple high school girls in Fairfax County, VA, was deported to El Salvador yesterday. DHS will never stop fighting to remove sickos like Flores-Ortiz, and make America safe again.”
Flores-Ortiz had been released into the U.S. interior during the Biden administration and later enrolled as a junior at Fairfax High School, according to ABC’s Washington affiliate. Several days before his release from local custody, a Department of Justice immigration judge reportedly ordered his removal from the country. That order preceded his arrest by DHS agents.
Sheriff cites five-day transfer window
A spokesperson for Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said custody and transfer decisions rested with the sheriff’s office, not his office. The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office, led by Sheriff Stacey Kincaid, told Fox News Digital on Thursday that it released Flores-Ortiz into ICE custody, pointing to a Virginia law permitting such transfers up to five days before an inmate’s scheduled release.
Sean Kennedy, who leads Virginians for Safe Communities, called the outcome “heartening” but noted that Kincaid’s office refused 615 ICE detainer requests over a 16-month period and turned over only 11 people to federal authorities during that span. Kincaid’s office did not immediately elaborate on whether the existence of the judge’s removal order was the deciding factor in this case.
Both Descano and Kincaid were questioned by congressional lawmakers earlier this year over their offices’ general noncooperation with ICE detainer requests.
Case is one of several involving the county
The deportation adds to a series of controversies involving illegal immigrants in Fairfax County, a Democrat-led jurisdiction bordering Washington, D.C., where local sanctuary-style policies have repeatedly collided with the Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement.
A parent of one of the victims told ABC’s Washington affiliate that roughly 12 students had reported encounters with Flores-Ortiz.
“He just sneakily walked up behind them and put his hand in between their legs. It was not just a butt smack or a butt grab. It was a groping of a private area. It had been occurring for several months,” the mother said.
In a letter to parents earlier this year, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid called the conduct “unacceptable” and said the district had hired outside counsel to “conduct a comprehensive review of the matter.”
An ICE spokesperson added: “Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome – especially those who harm our American communities.”
