Three illegal immigrants were among five men arrested in Connecticut after arranging to have sex with a minor via the internet.
Police in New Britain, Conn., said the five suspects now face various charges for sex crimes against children. Undercover investigators said the men set up meetings to have sex with an underage child and were arrested June 5 at the hotel where they arranged to meet.
Of the five individuals, three are illegal aliens: Bruno Orlando Medina Mendoza, 28, and Jorge Manuel Escobar Quispe, 30, who are both from Peru, and Raul Andrey Echavez-Castro, who is from Colombia.
EXCLUSIVE: DHS confirms to us that three men arrested in a Connecticut s*x sting operation for trying to meet with minors for s*x are ILLEGAL ALIENS who were released into our country by the Biden admin.
Bruno Medina Mendoza, Peru
Jorge Escobar Quispe, Peru
Raul Echavez-Castro,… pic.twitter.com/giTtwPNvAQ— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 12, 2026
They illegally entered the country in 2023 and were released by the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a news release.
All five suspects now face charges of commercial sexual abuse of a minor, criminal attempt to commit sexual contact with a victim under the age of 16, and second-degree sexual assault, WWLP 22 News reported.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also lodged detainers against the three illegal migrants and asked local authorities to not release them from jail.
DHS officials said they are among the migrants who flocked to the southern border and entered in 2023. Quispe and Echavez-Castro crossed through Arizona, while Mendoza entered through California.
Mendoza and Quispe live in Springfield, Massachusetts, according to WWLP 22 News. The outlet did not mention their immigration status and described them as “two Springfield men.” Echavez-Castro is from Waterbury, Connecticut., and the other two suspects are from New Britain, Connecticut.
Mendoza has a criminal history that includes arrests for assault and child neglect, while Castro’s criminal history includes an arrest for disturbing public peace, DHS said.
“These illegal aliens thought they were arranging a meeting with an underage child for sex,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “These pedophiles were RELEASED into our country by the Biden administration.”
According to WWLP, undercover detectives posted advertisements for adult services on classified websites, and then posed as an adult with access to an underage child. The five suspects negotiated prices for sex with the child in online chats before traveling to a New Britain hotel, where they were arrested.
Connecticut, like many of its neighboring Northeastern states, has been classified as a “sanctuary state” by the federal government.
The CT Trust Act limits how local and state law enforcement can interact with federal immigration authorities. The law prohibits local authorities from honoring ICE immigration detainers under most circumstances.
“We are calling on Connecticut sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing these child predators from jail and to promise they will turn them over to ICE,” Bis said. “It is common sense. These pedophiles should NEVER be loose in American neighborhoods again.”
