A Clinton-appointed federal judge ordered an illegal alien released from custody in August, and two months later that same man overpowered and repeatedly raped a woman inside her own Minnesota home — an assault caught on her surveillance cameras.
This is not a system failure. It is the system working as designed. Marcotulio Melendez Diaz, 42, entered the country from Honduras, was caught and released at the southern border by the Biden administration in April 2024, was arrested again in Minnesota, had a deportation order issued against him — and then a lifetime-appointed federal judge cut him loose on a habeas petition. Now a woman in Mounds View, Minnesota, lives with the consequences.
U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia, appointed by Bill Clinton to the Western District of Texas, granted Melendez Diaz's habeas petition on due process grounds, finding his detention had been "unlawful or unreasonably prolonged." The ruling allowed Melendez Diaz to return to Minnesota. On October 9, the Board of Immigration Appeals rejected his appeal and issued a final deportation order. Two days later, on October 11, he was working as a handyman when he allegedly overpowered and repeatedly raped the resident against her will, according to ICE officials.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not mince words. "This is what happens when activist judges side with criminal illegal aliens over Americans," the agency said in a statement. "ICE arrested him, and an immigration judge ordered his deportation. But a Clinton-appointed federal judge ordered him RELEASED. And now an American woman has suffered a horrific crime that could have been PREVENTED."
The timeline tells the story. Melendez Diaz was first apprehended at the border in April 2024 and released under Biden administration policy. He was arrested again in January 2026 during Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota and transferred to ICE detention in Texas. An immigration judge ordered his deportation on March 30. He appealed. Judge Garcia freed him in August while that appeal was pending. The appeal was denied October 9. The rape allegedly occurred October 11.
Neither the New York Post nor Fox News reported any statement from Judge Garcia or his chambers defending the release decision. The two outlets reported the same core facts; the Salt Lake Tribune, the third outlet in this synthesis, covered an unrelated story about noncitizen voter fraud charges in Utah — a separate consequence of the same broken immigration system.
Melendez Diaz now faces felony first-degree criminal sexual penetration charges and up to 30 years in prison if convicted. He remains in custody.
Judge Garcia holds his seat for life. He will never face a voter, never answer to the woman attacked in Mounds View, and never be asked to explain why due process for a deportable noncitizen outweighed the safety of the public he released that man into. The Biden administration opened the border. The federal bench keeps unlocking the door. Both parties built this. The question isn't how this happened. The question is who's next.
