A 32‑year‑old Salvadoran national with an active Immigration and Customs Enforcement removal order has been arrested and charged with nine counts of sexual abuse and rape involving an underage girl, prompting Maryland Representative Andy Harris to call the case a direct consequence of failed border enforcement and to back the Trump administration’s deportation priorities.
Yerlis Alvarez‑Alvarez faces three counts each of second‑degree rape, sex abuse of a minor, and third‑degree sex offense in Harford County Circuit Court. According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Alvarez‑Alvarez is a Salvadoran national subject to a final order of removal. He was taken into custody in Bel Air on June 5 in a joint operation involving the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Marshals, and Homeland Security Investigations.
The charges stem from abuse that a victim said began in 2021 and continued through 2024, when she was in middle school. Charging documents allege that Alvarez‑Alvarez solicited intercourse, touched the victim inappropriately, and engaged in sexual acts with her at a Bel Air residence, at times offering gifts such as stuffed animals. The victim came forward in February. Alvarez‑Alvarez is being held without bail pending a scheduling conference later this month.
Harris responded to the arrest with a direct statement linking the alleged crimes to immigration enforcement failures. “The allegations in this case are horrific and completely unacceptable,” he said. “Marylanders deserve safe communities where criminals who have no legal right to be in this country are not free to victimize innocent people.”
He continued, “President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security have rightly made deporting violent criminal illegal aliens a priority because the first responsibility of government is to protect its citizens.”
The case adds to a growing body of incidents that supporters of the Trump administration’s mass‑deportation agenda cite as evidence that the failure enforce immigration law allow dangerous individuals to remain in the country — in some cases with active removal orders — until they commit serious crimes. Alvarez‑Alvarez had a final order of removal on file yet remained in the country for years, during which the alleged abuse occurred.
The Office of the Public Defender, which represents Alvarez‑Alvarez, declined to comment.
Federal immigration officials have made cases involving individuals with removal orders and criminal records a central focus of ongoing enforcement operations, and the administration has cited similar cases in several states as justification for expanded deportation efforts. Additional cases involving individuals with active ICE orders are expected to draw further scrutiny from lawmakers as the administration continues pressing Congress for stricter immigration controls.
