An ICE detainer operates on a fixed window. The mechanism requests that local law enforcement notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement before releasing a noncitizen and hold that person up to 48 additional hours past a scheduled release date, giving federal agents time to take the individual into custody for potential removal proceedings. ICE filed one of those holds with the Wake County Sheriff's Department on Sunday against Angel Israel Deras-Rivas, 19, a Salvadoran national charged with murder and felony child abuse after a 14-month-old toddler died in a bathtub in Garner, North Carolina.
What the arrest warrant describes
Deras-Rivas was caring for his stepchild when he allegedly left the toddler unattended in a bathtub filled with water, according to an arrest warrant cited by The Raleigh News and Observer. The child, 14 months old, died. The incident occurred months after Deras-Rivas married the child's mother in April. ICE filed its detainer with the Wake County Sheriff's Department on the same day as the arrest, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed.
Entry history and the Biden administration's role
DHS identifies Deras-Rivas as a Salvadoran national who unlawfully crossed into the United States through Texas in October 2023. The Biden administration released him into the country after that crossing. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in a statement to Fox News Digital, said the child would still be alive if the prior administration had not released Deras-Rivas into the country. Mullin described the Biden administration's border policies as reckless.
The detainer as a request, not an order
A detainer requests local compliance; it does not compel it. ICE is calling on North Carolina officials to hold Deras-Rivas and transfer him to federal custody so removal proceedings can begin. That ask sits against the procedural reality that the Wake County Sheriff's Department retains discretion. Deras-Rivas faces murder and felony child abuse charges in North Carolina state court. Fox News Digital reported reaching out to the Garner Police Department for further comment; no response was included in the published account.