Illegal Immigrant Stabs Baby, Mom and Grandma After Quick Release

This seems to be happening with horrifying regularity, even after a year and a half into President Trump’s border crackdown: On Friday, Fox News’ Bill Melugin, posting on X, informed us of a case in Modesto, California, in which an illegal alien from Mexico allegedly murdered a two-week-old infant, along with the baby’s mother and grandmother. The illegal alien had been previously deported and had a record of driving under the influence.

Bill Melugin writes: ICYMI: A previously deported Mexican illegal alien with four prior DUI arrests has been charged with a triple murder in Modesto, CA after he allegedly stabbed to death a two-week-old baby, the baby’s mom, and the baby’s grandma. DHS tells @FoxNews  that when Joaquin Escoto was arrested for his latest DUI in June 2025, ICE sent a request to the San Joaquin County Jail to be notified if he were to be released, and DHS provided us the request they sent over. Escoto was still released without any heads up to ICE. 

San Joaquin County Sheriff Pat Withrow told media outlets that Escsoto was arrested for that DUI at 1 am, and he was released at 6 am. He says the jail didn’t get a fax from ICE requesting notification of his release until 9 am. “We did not do anything wrong here,” Withrow said. “Their hold request came after he was already gone. It wasn’t even a hold. It was just a request to notify them when he was going to be released. He was already gone.”

However, under California’s sanctuary laws, DUI is not a serious enough offense to allow cooperation with ICE, so even if the ICE request would have come in sooner, it’s unlikely ICE’s request would have been honored by San Joaquin County. 

In other words, the San Joaquin County Sheriff appears to have dodged a key point. DHS was quick to correct that; Mr. Melugin continues: DHS statement to FOX: “ICE lodged an arrest detainer the same day this criminal illegal alien was arrested for driving under the influence. By the way, that was the same day he was released by sanctuary politicians.

In the sheriff’s own words, he “probably would not” have honored the detainer because it was “just a DUI.” They knowingly set this violent criminal loose, and he slaughtered a two-week-old baby in cold blood, along with the infant’s mother and grandmother.

California’s sanctuary politicians MUST STOP this deadly game. They CHOOSE every single day to release criminal illegal aliens back into our communities, directly endangering American families and creating more innocent victims.” California is a sanctuary state, under the California Values Act. (Apparently, the murder of three generations of people in one attack is a California value.)

This act restricts all local law enforcement in the state from using their resources to provide any aid to Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), including complying with detainer requests. This strongly suggests any detainer for Joaquin Escoto would have been ignored in any case. 

Three people, including an infant, a mother, and a grandmother, are dead, allegedly at the hands of an illegal alien, who had been previously deported and returned – illegally. He entered the country illegally and remained in the country illegally, despite having been picked up several times while driving under the influence. He was protected by California’s sanctuary state laws, and this is the result.

Sadly, these victims are now three more in a growing list, and it’s hard to arrive at any conclusion other than that the Democrat-controlled sanctuary jurisdictions are prioritizing illegal aliens over American lives. That is the pass we have come to; this is what four years of Biden administration non-enforcement of the border have wrought.

(Editor’s Note: Ward Clark hails from Alaska’s Susitna Valley, where he maintains his rural household in one of America’s last free places. Ward is a twelve-year veteran of the U.S. Army, including service in Operation Desert Storm and (in Germany in support of) Operation Joint Endeavor, and today is a staunch minarchist libertarian, along with being an author, novelist, self-employed small businessman.)