Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are urging California Gov. Gavin Newsom to end the state’s sanctuary policy after an illegal immigrant from Mexico was charged in connection with the deaths of an infant, the child’s mother, and the child’s grandmother in Modesto, as reported by Breitbart.

Joaquin Escoto Vazquez, 28, was arrested by the Modesto Police Department and charged with homicide and cruelty toward a child. Authorities say the victims were the infant, 23-year-old Fabiola Gonzalez-Nunez, and 54-year-old Maria Sylvia Nunez-Villalobos.

According to police, officers responded to a residence in Modesto and found the three victims with fatal injuries. Gonzalez-Nunez and Nunez-Villalobos were pronounced dead at the scene. The infant was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead.

Joaquin Escoto, a Mexican national deported three times, murdered a two-week-old baby, the baby’s mother, and the grandmother in Gavin Newsom’s California.

California’s sanctuary policies blocked ICE from detaining him after a prior arrest, letting this killer roam free.… pic.twitter.com/PMm5R1BRsX — Gina Milan (@ginamilan_) June 2, 2026

Vazquez was not at the residence when officers arrived, according to the report. He was later arrested by Modesto police.

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ICE officials told Breitbart News that Vazquez had previously been arrested four times for drunk driving in California. His most recent drunk driving arrest came in June 2025, when ICE agents lodged a detainer against him with the San Joaquin County Jail.

Federal immigration officials said California’s sanctuary state policy resulted in that detainer being ignored. Vazquez was later released back into the community.

ICE has since placed another detainer on Vazquez with the Stanislaus County Jail. The agency is asking jail officials to notify federal immigration authorities if he is released at any point.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Lauren Bis said California officials should cooperate with ICE to prevent criminal illegal immigrants from being released from local custody.

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“This monster’s heinous crime could have been prevented if sanctuary politicians in California simply cooperated with ICE law enforcement,” Bis said.

“This criminal illegal alien from Mexico is now charged with homicide and cruelty toward a child after the fatal stabbings of a baby, the baby’s mother, and the baby’s grandmother,” she said. “… Governor Gavin Newsom and his fellow sanctuary politicians must stop putting lives at risk by releasing criminals from jails into California communities to create more victims.”

ICE officials said Vazquez first illegally crossed the southern border into California in 2018. He was deported during President Donald Trump’s first administration. At a later date, officials said, Vazquez illegally crossed the border again as an unknown getaway.

The case has renewed attention on California’s sanctuary policies, which restrict cooperation between state and local authorities and federal immigration enforcement.

ICE officials argue that those policies prevent agents from taking custody of criminal illegal immigrants after local arrests, even when federal detainers have been filed. Supporters of sanctuary rules have defended them for years as limits on state involvement in federal immigration enforcement.

In this case, federal officials say the June 2025 detainer should have allowed ICE to take custody of Vazquez after his latest drunk driving arrest. Instead, according to ICE, he was released before the Modesto case.

Vazquez remains in local custody as the homicide and child cruelty charges proceed.

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