The illegal teenage migrant convicted of groping nine students at a high school in Fairfax County, Virginia, earlier this year has been deported back to El Salvador.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced they took 19-year-old Israel Flores-Ortiz into custody and sent him packing following his short stint in jail for the crimes.
He was convicted in April of nine counts of assault and battery for groping female students at Fairfax High School in Fairfax County, Virginia. He was caught on camera grabbing their private areas in the school hallways.
“This groper is GONE,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security shared on social media. “DHS will never stop fighting to REMOVE sickos like Flores-Ortiz, and make America SAFE again.”
This groper is GONE.
Israel Flores-Ortiz, an illegal alien who groped multiple high school girls in Fairfax County, VA, was DEPORTED to El Salvador yesterday.
DHS will never stop fighting to REMOVE sickos like Flores-Ortiz, and make America SAFE again. https://t.co/gPjNSoJz7T
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) September 9, 2026
Flores-Ortiz illegally entered the country from El Salvador as a minor. He crossed the southern border in 2024 and was released into the country during the Biden administration.
He made his way to Fairfax County, Virginia, a sanctuary jurisdiction, and enrolled in the local school district. He was arrested in March after the allegations surfaced and parents accused school administrators of downplaying the assaults.
Although Flores-Ortiz faced up to nine years behind bars, a judge sentenced him to 360 days in jail with two years of probation.
The judge reduced his time behind bars to about 140 days after giving credit for time already served, and he remained in Fairfax County Adult Detention Center rather than serving time in state prison.
His arrest made national news in March, when several parents said he had been groping students for most of the school year without any consequences.
Flores-Ortiz was a junior at the school and was initially accused of groping 13 girls who attended the same school but did not know him. Some of the victims were as young as 13 years old, and he grabbed their private areas during passing periods at the school.
Fairfax County Public Schools allows adult illegal immigrants to enroll in school without documentation about their age, identity or background.
The district policy is that they can attend until they are 22 years old, according to Stephanie Lundquist-Arora of the Independent Women’s Network and a parent with three children in the district, who appeared on Fox News when the story first broke.
“I think this entire horrifying situation is the direct consequence of policy with really dysfunctional priorities, and that’s to shield adult illegal immigrants at the expense of children’s safety, even in their public schools,” Lundquist-Arora said in an interview on “Fox & Friends Weekend” following his arrest.
Flores-Ortiz was accused of repeatedly creeping up behind the girls in crowded hallways and grabbing them between the legs and other private areas.
Parents and victims’ advocates said the school ignored the allegations until parents pressured school administrators to act.
A Fairfax High School administrative assistant testified in court that Flores-Ortiz admitted to the allegations, The Washington Post reported. It came out in court that Flores-Ortiz told school officials he “did it for fun.”
In total, 12 girls testified against Flores-Ortiz during the all-day hearing. Surveillance videos capturing the assaults were shown in court.
The victims shared details of the sexual assaults, reporting that Flores-Ortiz put his hands between their legs, grabbed their private parts in the front, and moved his hands to their butts while in the school’s hallways.
Fairfax High School Assistant Principal Troy Ketch testified that he reviewed the school’s security footage and verified all but two of the complaints, including an incident where he saw “Israel with his hand on the backside of one of the students,” The Washington Post reported.
When the verdict was handed down, critics of Soros-funded Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano accused his office of sabotaging the case and filing reduced charges.
Virginians for Safe Communities shared news of Flores-Ortiz’s release on X, following up after ICE announced he was deported with a copy of the VINELink notification.
“Despite Fairfax Schools & Soros DA Steve Descano’s best efforts, Fairfax High School Groper Israel Flores Ortiz got his dream vacation paid for by the American Taxpayers,” the group said in its post. “Don’t forget to write!”
