Federal agents arrested a Mexican national charged with rape and other sex crimes after he tried to use a fake passport to hop a plane at the Portland International Airport.
Manuel Cruz-Ramirez, who was previously deported in 2018, was out on bond after being released from jail in Oregon. Cruz-Ramirez faces charges stemming from a 2025 arrest for rape, purchasing sex with a minor, and sexual abuse in Marion County, Ore.
Cruz-Ramirez attempted to use a fraudulent passport to flee the country and evade justice for the sexual assault charges, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Authorities were alerted to Cruz-Ramirez’s criminal background after he tried to use a fake passport to pass through security at the airport.
Agents with DHS, the Transportation Security Administration, and Customs and Border Protection took him into custody on Feb. 3 at the Portland International Airport, DHS said.
TSA and CBP encountered Cruz-Ramirez at a terminal checkpoint when he presented a fraudulent Mexican passport in the name of Moises Ezquivel Mendoza. When the passport did not return full data, CBP used fingerprints to identify Cruz-Ramirez, according to a DHS news release.
He was released on bail into the community to “victimize more innocents” courtesy of Oregon’s sanctuary policies, DHS said.
Sanctuary policies let alleged child predator roam free until DHS made Oregon airport arrest https://t.co/B9XrBPoD3Y pic.twitter.com/Nnl4G82PO0
— New York Post (@nypost) February 13, 2026
“The state’s sanctuary politicians allowed this pedophile to be released from jail back into American communities,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Americans can be proud of the swift actions of TSA and CBP for protecting them and our judicial system by preventing this monster from fleeing the country.”
According to DHS, Cruz-Ramirez was previously removed from the United States in July 2018. He illegally re-entered the U.S. at an unknown location and time, which is a felony.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has him in custody, and his prior removal order has been re-instated.
The same story keeps playing out across the country — criminals are arrested for raping women and children and then released and allowed to do it again or freely move about the country or try to flee.
“Criminal illegal aliens should not be released from jails back onto our streets to terrorize more innocent Americans,” McLaughlin said. “Oregon’s sanctuary politicians must stop this reckless insanity of releasing child predators from jail back into our neighborhoods to prey on more innocent children.”
In another recent case on the East Coast, a Salvadoran illegal immigrant wanted for allegedly sexually abusing a preteen family member, along with being ordered removed 20 years ago, was captured at a Washington, D.C., airport as he attempted to leave the country, according to CBP.
Authorities arrested Nelvis Gonzalez Purdencio, 43, of Germantown, Md., at Washington Dulles International Airport on Feb. 1 before he could board an El Salvador-bound flight.
Gonzalez Purdencio failed to turn himself in three years ago after being charged with sexually assaulting a child under 12 years of age in Montgomery County, Md. — a sanctuary jurisdiction.
DHS continues to highlight what it calls a “sanctuary calamity,” calling on sanctuary state governors to work with DHS and ICE to honor detainers and transfer criminal illegal aliens from jail to ICE custody.
Earlier this week, DHS asked Georgia officials to not release another criminal illegal alien charged for sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl without notifying immigration officers.
Juan Carlos Salvador-Diaz, 29, a Honduran national, was arrested on Jan. 30, 2026, and charged with two counts of aggravated sexual battery, according to local reports.
The following day, ICE lodged an arrest detainer with the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office in Cobb County, Ga. Salvador-Diaz illegally entered the United States in 2019.
“We need cooperation from state and local authorities to turn these types of sickos over to us, so we can get them OUT of our country before they victimize more Americans,” McLauglin said.
In North Carolina, ICE also lodged a detainer for Juan Ramon Juarez-Talamantes, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico, and requested local authorities notify ICE before his release.
Juarez-Talamantes was arrested on Nov. 19, 2025, for two counts of rape of a child under 15-years-old in Asheville, N.C. He was charged with a third count on Jan. 22, 2026, following the discovery of a third child victim.
Nearly 1,400 detainers across North Carolina have not been honored—meaning criminal illegal aliens have been released from North Carolina jails back into American communities to create more victims.
In California, 4,561 criminal illegal aliens have had detainers not honored and been released from jails into California communities since Jan. 20, 2025. Statewide, ICE has 33,179 active detainers for criminal illegal aliens in California’s local, state and federal prisons, DHS said.
DHS has created a searchable website, WOW.DHS.Gov, for members of the public to see criminal illegal aliens arrested in their communities.
