Criminal Alien of the Week Report 07/23/20 by David Cross
It has been an interesting third full week in the month of July 2020 when it comes to criminal aliens (illegal aliens) here in the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
This week’s report for your radio listeners is on a criminal illegal alien who has been convicted and sentenced for multiple sex crimes against child in the state of Oregon.
On July 9, 2020 the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office issued a news release titled “Cruz Palacios-Romero receives a 41 1/2 year prison sentence.”
According to the District Attorney’s Office’s news release, on January 21, 2020 a Multnomah County jury unanimously found Cruz Palacios-Romero (SID: 23261288; DOB: 05/03/1982), age 38, guilty of Rape in the first degree and Sexual Abuse in the third degree — 81 counts of child-related sex crimes.
Cruz Palacios-Romero’s female victim was between 11 and 12 years of age when the sex abuse started and ended when she was 14 years old. Palacios-Romero’s rape and sex abuse of the child caused her to become pregnant.
Sentencing of Cruz Palacios-Romero occurred in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
On July 22, 2020 Cruz Palacios-Romero was incarcerated at the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) Coffee Creek Intake Center in Wilsonville, Oregon.
The “Criminal Alien of the Week Report” on Thursday, July 16, 2020 sent via e-maul U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Public Affairs Officer (PAO) Alethea Smock a request for information on historical immigration status of Cruz Palacios-Romero.
On Wednesday, July 22, 2020 ICE Public Affairs Officer Smock sent via e-mail the following statement on Cruz Palacios-Romero:
“Cruz Palacios-Romero, 38, is an illegally present Salvadoran national who was previously removed from the United States. Palacios-Romero entered the U.S. sometime before 2002 without being admitted or paroled by an immigration officer. He failed to appear for his immigration hearing in 2002, and an immigration judge ordered him removed from the U.S. in absentia. On Jan 23, 2014, ICE encountered Palacios-Romero at the Houston County Jail in Warner Robins, GA where he had been arrested on local charges. Palacios-Romero was subsequently transferred to ICE custody and was removed to El Salvador on Feb 21, 2014. Following his removal, U.S. Border Patrol encountered Palacios-Romero in April 2015 as part of a family unit and released him on an order of recognizance with reporting requirements to ICE. He failed to report as required.
On March 13, 2019, Palacios-Romero was arrested by Portland Police Bureau for rape and sexual assault. Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) lodged an immigration detainer with the jail. He was also charged with illegal reentry, a felony, by the U.S. District Court, District of Oregon.
On Jan. 21, 2020, a Multnomah County jury found Palacios-Romero guilty of 81 counts of rape in the first degree, incest and sexual abuse in the third degree. A judge sentenced him July 9, 2020, to 500 consecutive months in prison with multiple concurrent sentences.
He is currently in the custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections. He has not yet been arraigned on federal charges.” – Alethea Smock, ICE Public Affairs Officer.
“ON BACKGROUND (TO BE ATTRIBUTED TO ICE OFFICIAL):
ICE’s mission remains consistent: to identify, arrest and remove aliens who present a danger to national security or are a risk to public safety, as well as those who enter the country illegally or otherwise undermine the integrity of our immigration laws and our border control efforts.
Illegal re-entry is a federal criminal charge, and violators may face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
ICE lodges immigration detainers on individuals who have been arrested on criminal charges and who ICE has probable cause to believe are removable aliens. The detainer asks the other law enforcement agency to notify ICE in advance of release and to maintain custody of the alien for a brief period of time so that ICE can take custody of that person in a safe and secure setting upon release from that agency’s custody. When law enforcement agencies fail to honor immigration detainers and release serious criminal offenders onto the streets, it undermines ICE’s ability to protect public safety and carry out its mission.” – ICE Public Affairs.
Convicted and sentenced for multiple sex crimes against a child and now in the custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections, Salvadoran national child rapist Cruz Palacios-Romero has joined as many as 451 criminal illegal alien sex offenders who are now incarcerated in the DOC prison system.