DHS Called Him a ‘Depraved Freak.’ Virginia Had Already Convicted Him of Abusing His Own Daughter.
In a post on X this week, the Department of Homeland Security did not mince words: “ICE has DEPORTED Marcelo Vasquez-Reyna, a depraved freak who sexually abused HIS OWN DAUGHTER.” The agency added: “Criminals like this sicko have NO sanctuary in our nation.”
Vasquez-Reyna, a Mexican national living in the United States illegally, had already been through Virginia’s court system before ICE ever touched him. In March 2026, he pleaded guilty in Albemarle County Circuit Court to a felony charge of taking indecent liberties with a child by a parent — his own teenage daughter. He was also charged with attempted rape and abduction in connection with the same conduct. He received a sentence of five years and six months, with five years suspended.
ICE arrested him on March 24, 2026, the same month he was sentenced, and has now removed him from the country. Because he pleaded guilty to the indecent-liberties charge, this story treats that conviction as fact; no source reviewed documents a conviction on the attempted-rape or abduction counts, so those remain unresolved and are reported as charges, not established fact.
- 5 yr, 6 mosentencewith five years suspended — Albemarle County Circuit Court, March 2026, on the indecent-liberties count
- March 24, 2026ICE arrestagents took Vasquez-Reyna into custody the same month he was sentenced
- Oct. 16, 2025charging incidentthe specific incident court records tie to his conviction, per reporting on the case file
- Jan. 17, 2026day oneGov. Abigail Spanberger (D) rescinded Virginia's state-agency 287(g) agreements with ICE hours after taking office
- 0responseFox News Digital says Spanberger's office did not respond to a request for comment on this specific case
Albemarle County is horse country and university town rolled into one — home to the University of Virginia and the farmland that surrounds Charlottesville. It is not the image most Americans picture when they hear “sanctuary state crime.” It is nonetheless where, according to court records reviewed by Fox News Digital, Marcelo Vasquez-Reyna sexually abused his own daughter.
The Charlottesville Daily Progress, whose local reporting on the underlying case predates DHS’s statement, wrote that Vasquez-Reyna “was repeatedly arrested on charges of groping his teenage daughter and attempting to rape her using force” — conduct the paper said left the girl living in fear of further attacks. Court records tie the specific felony charge that produced his conviction to an incident on October 16, 2025; other reporting on the case describes the abuse as beginning years earlier. What is not in dispute in any source reviewed for this story is that his own daughter was the victim, and that an Albemarle County judge accepted his guilty plea to that abuse in March 2026.
Vasquez-Reyna pleaded guilty in Albemarle County Circuit Court to one felony count of taking indecent liberties with a child by a parent, guardian, or custodian — the charge Virginia law reserves for a parent’s own sexual abuse of a child between 15 and 17. Prosecutors under Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Hingeley (D) had also charged him with attempted rape and abduction in connection with the same conduct; no source reviewed for this story documents a conviction on those two counts.
The sentence a Circuit Court judge handed down was five years and six months, with five of those years suspended — leaving roughly six months of active incarceration on the state charge. ICE did not wait for him to walk out the door: agents arrested Vasquez-Reyna on March 24, 2026, the same month he was sentenced, and held him in federal custody through removal proceedings that ended with his deportation.
“ICE has DEPORTED Marcelo Vasquez-Reyna, a depraved freak who sexually abused HIS OWN DAUGHTER. Criminals like this sicko have NO sanctuary in our nation.”
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, X post — August 2026
DHS’s “NO sanctuary” line was not really addressed to Vasquez-Reyna, who was already gone by the time the department posted it. It was addressed to Virginia’s sanctuary debate — the same fight DHS has picked publicly with Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) repeatedly since she took office on January 17, 2026. Hours after being sworn in, Spanberger signed an executive order rescinding predecessor Glenn Youngkin’s directive that state agencies maintain 287(g) agreements with ICE, and separately restricted state property from being used for federal immigration enforcement.
DHS called out Spanberger by name on February 24, ahead of her response to President Trump’s State of the Union address, saying she was “banning work with ICE law enforcement.” On March 3, the department accused her of “protecting a murderer over Virginians” in an unrelated homicide case. By April, when Fox News asked whether she would reverse the sanctuary stance, her office said she “strongly believes violent criminals who are in the United States illegally should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and deported” — while declining to reverse the policy itself. On this case, Fox News Digital reported it had reached out to Spanberger’s office, the Albemarle County Police Department, and the Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office; none had responded as of publication.
ICE has DEPORTED Marcelo Vasquez-Reyna, a depraved freak who sexually abused HIS OWN DAUGHTER. Criminals like this sicko have NO sanctuary in our nation.
ICE calls out 'depraved freak' illegal immigrant deported after heinous crime in Dem-run state
The prosecution that produced Vasquez-Reyna’s conviction ran through the office of Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Hingeley (D), elected in 2024. The politics that framed how DHS announced the deportation run through the governor’s office in Richmond.
Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) — rescinded Virginia’s state-agency 287(g) agreements with ICE on her first day in office; her office did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment on this case.
Jim Hingeley (D) — Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney; his office secured Vasquez-Reyna’s guilty plea and the March 2026 sentence.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security — issued the “depraved freak” statement announcing the deportation on X.
Vasquez-Reyna has been removed from the United States. It is not clear from any source reviewed for this story whether he completed the active portion of his Virginia sentence before ICE obtained custody, or whether he was transferred directly from state to federal custody after sentencing. What is established is the sequence: a guilty plea, a suspended sentence, an ICE arrest the same month, and a deportation DHS announced in the bluntest terms it uses for any case.
Marcelo Vasquez-Reyna pleaded guilty to sexually abusing his own teenage daughter, was sentenced in Albemarle County, Virginia, and is now deported after DHS called him a “depraved freak” who found “NO sanctuary in our nation.” The system worked in the narrow sense that he was prosecuted and removed — but DHS used the case to keep pressing a wider point: Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) ended Virginia’s state-level cooperation with ICE on her first day in office, and her administration has repeatedly declined to say whether that will change.
