An illegal alien from El Salvador has been arrested and charged with murder in connection to the Feb. 8 slaying of a 2-year-old Maryland boy, Jeremy Poou-Caceres, and the grievous wounding of the boy's mother.

Prior to allegedly killing the child, Salvadoran national Nilson Granados-Trejo was twice arrested and twice freed in a nearby sanctuary county despite an outstanding removal order and detainer requests from immigration officials.

Illegally imported turf wars

According to the Prince George's County Police Department, a detective working in the area of the 1400 block of Kanawha Street in Langley Park heard gunfire and attempted to locate the source. What the detective ultimately found was a dying toddler beside his wounded mother.

Jeremy Poou-Caceres was taken to a hospital, where he died shortly thereafter. His 17-year-old mother, apparently struck in the leg, survived the attack and was released from the hospital days later.

Police indicated that the mother and child were not the intended targets. A witness reportedly saw two of the suspected shooters take shots at another group of thugs during a dispute over drug territory, striking Jeremy and his mother.

The boy's mother, whose identity has been concealed in some reports because she is a teen victim and a witness, claimed she was pushing her son in a stroller down Kanawha street when two groups of thugs began shooting, reported WRC-TV.

"I grabbed my son and tried to save my son. That was all I could think about," said the bereaved mother.

The suspects

The PGPD initially identified four suspects including a 15-year-old male from Takoma Park and a 16-year-old male from Hyattsville, both of whom have been charged as adults.

Police also arrested Israel Fuentes Jr. and Johnny Alejandro Turcios, 28.

The PGPD later arrested 25-year-old Nilson Granados-Trejo, an illegal alien from El Salvador, on Feb. 23. Like the others, Granados-Trejo has been charged with first- and second-degree murder. Police also charged him with two counts of first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and attempted murder.

Granados-Trejo is being held at the Department of Corrections on a no-bond status.

Investigators were able to track down the suspects thanks in part to surveillance video taken at a convenience store in Silver Spring. The video taken around 9:45 p.m. the day before the shooting clearly shows a number of the men who were riding around in the previously stolen Ford Explorer that ultimately served as the shooters' getaway vehicle.

An AK-47-style rifle was reportedly found inside the car after it was ditched by the suspects.

Bloody sanctuary

James Covington, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations Baltimore, confirmed to WTTG-TV that Nilson Granados-Trejo is in the country illegally and hails from El Salvador.

In November 2022, a Department of Justice immigration judge in Newark, New Jersey, reportedly ordered the the future murder suspect's deportation. It clearly did not take.

Granados-Trejo was arrested on March 21, 2023, and charged with theft by the Montgomery County Police Department.

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, Montgomery County, like Prince George's County, is a sanctuary for illegal aliens. ICE reportedly filed a immigration detainer for Granados-Trejo but indicated that the Montgomery County Detention Center refused to honor the detainer.

Granados-Trejo was cut loose on March 27, 2023.

It was not long until Granados-Trejo found himself once more in MCPD custody. He was arrested on Sept. 26, 2023, for alleged theft, obstruction, and hindering. Once again, ICE reportedly lodged an immigration detainer, and once again the MCDC cut him loose.

Several months after his Oct. 12, 2023, release from the MCDC, Granados-Trejo ended up in PGPD custody for allegedly murdering a child.

Covington indicated ERO Baltimore lodged an immigration detainer with the Prince George's County Detention Center against Granados-Trejo on Feb. 27.

A preventable trend

Multitudes of Americans have been subjected to violence by illegal aliens in recent years. There have been a number of particularly egregious instances in recent days and weeks.

The lifeless and brutalized remains of Laken Hope Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student, were found at the University of Georgia intramural fields on Thursday. Blaze News previously reported that the young woman's suspected killer is 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal alien from Venezuela who stole into the country in September 2022.

Ibarra was eligible for deportation in 2023 after being accused in Queens, New York, of felony child endangerment as well as shoplifting in Georgia, reported the New York Post.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) blasted President Joe Biden in a letter Saturday, stating, "More than nine million illegal immigrants have crossed the border since you took office – with an additional, unknown number of migrants who were not detained and processed – while at least 58 people on the terror watchlist have been encountered between ports of entry this fiscal year alone."

"While the dangers of this crisis have never been theoretical, this week our state witnessed a devastating tragedy," added Kemp.

Authorities in Louisiana announced Tuesday that they had apprehended an illegal alien from Honduras suspected of raping and assaulting a little girl. Angel Matias Castellanos-Orellana was arrested for armed robbery, aggravated battery, first-degree rape, and aggravated assault.

"Illegal immigrants continue to be a challenge to local law enforcement for many reasons," Kenner Police Department Chief Keith Conley underscored in his announcement of the arrest. "We are glad he is off our streets, but will he be back? Will he have a new identity? What other crimes has he committed since he crossed our borders?"

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