An illegal migrant from Venezuela stabbed a 68-year-old retiree to death on his own front lawn in Martinez, California, less than 24 hours after a Contra Costa County judge released him from custody — another American killed by a criminal alien the system chose to free rather than deport.
Todd Stewart was working on a project in his garage when Marcos Iriarte-Valdez, 36, attacked him. Surveillance footage captured the killing. There was no known connection between the two men. Stewart's neighbor Galina Pasternak told KTVU she was still processing the loss: "I still expect to see him over the fence."
The machinery of sanctuary California let this happen step by step. Iriarte-Valdez, whom the Department of Homeland Security identified as a "Venezuelan illegal alien" who also holds Spanish citizenship, has been in the U.S. since 2007. He was already on pretrial release for residential burglaries in Orinda when he was jailed last Tuesday for allegedly violating his home detention monitoring terms. The next day, a Contra Costa County Superior Court judge released him on his own recognizance and referred him back to home detention monitoring. Less than 24 hours later, Stewart was dead. Martinez Police Chief Andrew White said Iriarte-Valdez didn't even have his monitoring equipment placed on him until Friday — the day after the killing.
DHS didn't mince words. "[Governor Gavin Newsom] must NOT RELEASE this murderer from jail and turn him over to us so we can REMOVE him from our nation," the department posted on X. In a statement to The California Post, DHS added: "Because sanctuary cities refuse to work with ICE law enforcement, criminal illegal aliens are released into American communities to perpetuate more crimes."
ICE placed a detainer on Iriarte-Valdez on Saturday — two days after Stewart's body was on the lawn. Iriarte-Valdez is now held on $1.1 million bail.
The pattern is plain: a criminal illegal alien with a burglary case pending, a judge who releases him without ensuring monitoring is even active, a sanctuary system that refuses to coordinate with federal immigration enforcement, and a retiree who paid for it with his life. Under President Trump, ICE says nearly 70% of its arrests consist of illegal aliens already charged or convicted of crimes in the U.S. — meaning the targets are people like Iriarte-Valdez, who should have been flagged and removed long before last week.
Of the three outlets assigned this story, only the New York Post covered it. The other two — a local South Carolina station running an unrelated Texas murder piece and Sports Illustrated pushing soccer transfer rumors — treated the killing of an American on his own property as not worth a word. The silence from the institutional press is its own statement.
Todd Stewart was 68, retired, at home. His government had every chance to protect him and chose not to. The question isn't whether this will happen again — it's who's next.
