ICE confirms that previously deported illegal immigrant is accused of abusing and chaining children in a Virginia home

Authorities have confirmed that the boyfriend of a Virginia mother who was arrested after her two young sons were found chained to a post by their ankles is an illegal immigrant.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed to Fox News' Bill Melugin that one of the suspects charged in the child abuse case in Fairfax County, Virginia, is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who had previously been deported in 2019 but re-entered as a refugee at an unknown time and location.

“Franklin Arquimedes Viera-Guevara is a 29-year-old Salvadoran national who is in the country illegally. U.S. Border Patrol arrested Viera on November 1, 2018, after he illegally entered the United States near McAllen, Texas,” ICE said in a statement.

The agency said Viera-Guevara was placed on expedited removal proceedings and was deported from the United States to El Salvador on February 1, 2019.

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However, ICE stated that Viera-Guevara illegally re-entered the United States on an unknown date and location without being examined, admitted, or paroled by a U.S. immigration officer.

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Fairfax County Police responded to a call to a residence in Groveton, Virginia on August 15 after receiving a report of suspected child neglect.

One of the boys took a photo of his chained ankle using a roommate's cellphone, court documents say, and then sent the photo to the boy's sister, who called 911.

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According to a criminal complaint, officers heard chains rattling as they knocked on the door. Fox 5 DC reported. When someone opened the door, officers noticed a chain wrapped around a post next to a cot and two boys, brothers ages 7 and 9, were chained at their ankles.

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Wendi Del Cid Rodriguez, 46, and Viera-Guevara were both arrested on two counts of child neglect, two counts of child abuse and two counts of kidnapping. ERO Washington, DC, also filed an immigration arrest warrant for Guevara later that same day at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

Rodriguez and Viera-Guevara allegedly told investigators they would chain the boys' ankles for short periods of time to “scare” them into not leaving the house. However, a roommate told police that was false and that the boys were left unsupervised and handcuffed when the suspects were not home.

Landon Mion of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.

Source of the original article: ICE confirms that previously deported illegal immigrant is accused of abusing and chaining children in a Virginia home