In the past several days, a number of Fox News shows have informed viewers of how blue sanctuary states endanger their residents after an illegal alien from Venezuela murdered a California man after an ICE detainer was ignored. Fox also showed part of the surveillance video that actually recorded the murder.
On Wednesday's Fox News @ Night, reporter Chanley Painter recounted for viewers that Marcos Iriarte-Valdez had been arrested twice for burglary, and committed a murder the day after a judge released him:
Fox Highlights CA Illegal Who Murdered After Detainer Ignored pic.twitter.com/TxbYfpqlXo
— Brad Wilmouth (@bradwilmouth) August 14, 2026
So 36-year-old Marcos Iriarte-Valdez, a Venezuelan national, already allegedly assaulted a girlfriend when in April, according to court records, he was arrested for two burglaries, but a judge released him to home detention. Well, last Tuesday, police re-arrested him for violating that release, but, the next day, a judge released him again on his own recognizance.
She added that Iriarte-Valdez seemed to be preparing for another burglary when he stabbed to death homeowner Todd Stewart.
On the same night's broadcast, host Trace Gallagher called out Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) for shamelessly trying to blame ICE for the murder even though California authorities had repeatedly ignored an ICE detainer:
But Governor (Gavin) Newsom's office responded to "Common Sense," saying, quote, "Nothing in California law prevents federal authorities from enforcing immigration law." What the statement fails to say is that federal authorities who try to enforce immigration get zero help and face many obstacles. In fact, the very same illegal immigrant accused of killing the 68-year-old man already had a detainer placed on him by ICE. And the detainer was ignored three times, including after allegations of felony burglary and allegations of assaulting a girlfriend.
On Thursday's Fox & Friends First, fill-in co-host Nate Foy noted that the illegal alien also had a history of DUI and hit-and-run.
As the same day's Fox & Friends covered the story, co-host Brian Kilmeade discussed the issue with border czar Tom Homan. Homan called out Governor Newsom's lame effort to blame ICE, and declared that the state's law enforcement could have simply called ICE and informed them that he was about to be released from jail. Here's Homan:
And what really upset me, the response from the governor's office was that, "Well, ICE has billions of dollars -- they should be doing their job." We did our job. We located this person in their facility. We did investigation, found out he is illegally in the United States, he has a criminal history, he is deportable, so we issued a detainer asking them to notify us before they released him.
He added:
Now, I don't care about sanctuary policies -- oh, they said, "We can't honor detainers -- we don't think they're legal." There's nothing illegal -- there's nothing against a sanctuary law in California for a deputy to just pick the phone up and say that, "Hey, this guy's being released in an hour." You don't have to hold him one minute longer than you would normally hold him. Just call us before you release him.
Transcripts follow:
Fox News @ Night
August 12, 2026
11:28 p.m. Eastern
CHANLEY PAINTER: So 36-year-old Marcos Iriarte-Valdez, a Venezuelan national, already allegedly assaulted a girlfriend when in April, according to court records, he was arrested for two burglaries, but a judge released him to home detention. Well, last Tuesday, police re-arrested him for violating that release, but, the next day, a judge released him again on his own recognizance.
Then, on Thursday, according to police, Valdez was apparently casing houses when he was confronted by 68-year-old Todd Stewart. Valdez, wearing a tactical vest, allegedly stabbed Stewart to death.
(...)
TRACE GALLAGHER: But Governor (Gavin) Newsom's office responded to "Common Sense," saying, quote, "Nothing in California law prevents federal authorities from enforcing immigration law." What the statement fails to say is that federal authorities who try to enforce immigration get zero help and face many obstacles. In fact, the very same illegal immigrant accused of killing the 68-year-old man already had a detainer placed on him by ICE. And the detainer was ignored three times, including after allegations of felony burglary and allegations of assaulting a girlfriend.
(...)
Fox & Friends First
August 13, 2026
NATE FOY: According to the New York Post, not only was he let out of jail the day before the alleged murder, he has a whole bunch of previous arrests that include DUI, hit-and-run, burglary, trespassing, and inflicting corporal injury on a spouse.
(...)
Fox & Friends
August 13, 2026
7:28 a.m.
TOM HOMAN, BORDER CZAR: And what really upset me, the response from the governor's office was that, "Well, ICE has billions of dollars -- they should be doing their job." We did our job. We located this person in their facility. We did investigation, found out he is illegally in the United States, he has a criminal history, he is deportable, so we issued a detainer asking them to notify us before they released him.
Now, I don't care about sanctuary policies -- oh, they said, "We can't honor detainers -- we don't think they're legal." There's nothing illegal -- there's nothing against a sanctuary law in California for a deputy to just pick the phone up and say that, "Hey, this guy's being released in an hour." You don't have to hold him one minute longer than you would normally hold him. Just call us before you release him.
