Another criminal illegal immigrant from Mexico has been arrested for sexually abusing a minor—this time in New Jersey—and immigration officials have urged the state’s sanctuary politicians to keep him behind bars or hand him over.
Gerardo Garcia Gonzalez was arrested by the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office in New Jersey for allegedly assaulting and fondling a minor under 15 years old.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also placed an immigration detainer on Gonzalez, a Mexican national who entered the U.S. illegally, following his March 2 arrest by local authorities.
He was booked into Ocean County Jail on multiple sexual assault and child endangerment charges and held on a no-bail status, Shore News Network reported.
According to jail records, Gonzalez faces charges including sexual assault by force or coercion without serious injury, sexual assault involving a victim older than 13 but younger than 16 where the defendant is at least four years older, endangering the welfare of a child, and criminal sexual contact.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security called it a “New Jersey nightmare” and said “This pedophile should NEVER have been in our country and able to prey on children in the first place.”
Gonzalez illegally entered the U.S. in 2001 and was deported to Mexico. He committed a felony by re-entering the country at an unknown date and location, DHS shared in a news release and on social media.
🚨We are calling on New Jersey sanctuary politicians to NOT RELEASE an illegal alien PEDOPHILE into our communities.
Gerardo Garcia Gonzalez is a criminal illegal alien from Mexico who SEXUALLY ASSAULTED a minor under 15. Gonzalez illegally entered the U.S. in 2001 and was… pic.twitter.com/mTV4GYarLM
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) March 13, 2026
“We are calling on New Jersey sanctuary politicians to NOT release this predator charged with sexually assaulting a child from jail into New Jersey neighborhoods,” DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said. “This is the exact reason we need sanctuary jurisdictions to work with us. No one should want this sicko to be on our streets.”
Immigration detainers are requests from federal authorities asking local jails to hold a person for up to 48 hours after their scheduled release so ICE agents can take custody.
However, sanctuary jurisdictions often ignore the request or limit how local law enforcement agencies can cooperate with federal immigration enforcement in certain situations.
Federal officials want Gonzalez transferred into immigration custody if he is released from local detention rather than letting him free in the community.
In a response to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office said that Gonzalez “will remain detained unless there is a subsequent court proceeding.”
“New Jersey takes crimes of this nature very seriously,” the spokesperson told Fox. “We will ensure that our criminal statutes are enforced and that our communities are kept safe.”
Gonzalez is one of several criminal illegal immigrants from Mexico to make headlines for allegedly preying on and sexually abusing minors.
Last week, Gerardo Aurelio Iturbide, 24, a Mexican national living in southern Utah, was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly producing and distributing child sexual abuse material involving a teenage girl.
According to court documents, Iturbide faces multiple charges for sex crimes involving runaway teenage girls in November 2025. He allegedly met the teens at a gas station, bought them alcohol and raped two of the victims at a nearby hotel in Hurricane, Utah.
In a separate sexual assault case, ICE lodged an arrest detainer on Conrrado Ahuexoteco Atrisco on March 5 in Park City, Utah. Atrisco, also a 24-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, is accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Atrisco was arrested on suspicion of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony, and providing false information to a peace officer, a class B misdemeanor.
Meanwhile, DHS took aim at the sanctuary politicians in New Jersey who support soft-on-crime policies and have proposed legislation and other measures designed to “demonize our brave ICE law enforcement.”
In February, recently elected Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced a website to encourage residents to report “harmful conduct” by ICE agents in what critics say is an attempt to dox them.
Sherrill also signed an executive order limiting federal immigration enforcement operations on state-owned property, government offices, courthouses, public schools and other locations without a judicial warrant.
New York and California have created similar websites that allow people to post videos of ICE interactions for state officials to review. The portal is intended to help the Attorney General’s Office track where ICE officers are conducting operations and arresting New Jerseyans.
Republicans criticized the website, calling it “dangerous,” and blasted Sherrill for encouraging residents to document and share information about federal immigration operations. Assemblyman Erik Peterson, R-Hunterdon, called it another example of “Democrats protecting criminals,” the New Jersey Monitor reported.
Democrats in the state legislature proposed the F**K ICE Act, a bill allowing residents to sue law enforcement as they already face a 1,300% increase in assaults and 8,000% increase in death threats against them.
“This is a disgusting bill just meant to demonize our officers who are experiencing a highly coordinated campaign of violence against our law enforcement,” Bis previously told Fox News Digital.
