Accused Domestic Abuser Walks Free After ICE Release

Clear Facts

• Peruvian illegal immigrant Martin Soto was released from ICE custody Tuesday despite a prior arrest for domestic assault against a woman.
• Soto was arrested in Kearny, New Jersey on February 1 for simple assault after police reported he struck a female victim in the face with open and closed hands.
• Soto filed a habeas petition and was released from the Elizabeth Detention Center despite the violent domestic charge on his record.

Martin Soto, a Peruvian illegal immigrant with a domestic violence arrest, was freed from federal custody Tuesday night after filing a habeas petition. His release came despite police records showing he was arrested for striking a woman in the face.

Soto had been arrested February 1 in Kearny, New Jersey after officers responded to a domestic violence call. The police report stated Soto “purposely” caused “bodily injury” to the female victim “specifically by using his hands, both opened and closed to strike” her “in her face, causing minor scratches and cuts to her face and neck.”

“It’s not over until the alien wins,” Scott Mechkowski, a former ICE New York field office deputy director, told The Daily Wire. “I’ve seen this over and over and over so this is not surprising to me.”

Soto’s wife Gabriela led protests and raised over $67,000 claiming her husband was wrongfully detained. The story fell apart when police records revealed Soto had been arrested for domestic assault, not taken while buying diapers as initially claimed.

“My husband will NEVER do nothing to harm his family or his marriage,” Gabriela Soto wrote on Instagram after being shown the police report.

Mechkowski warned that habeas petitions like Soto’s are blocking the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts. More than 83,000 such petitions have been filed by ICE detainees since President Trump’s second term began, exceeding the total from the previous three administrations combined.

“This is why mass deportations aren’t as easy as the general public thinks,” Mechkowski said. “You just don’t take people and get rid of them. There’s a process.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the case. Soto was initially taken into ICE custody February 2 after local authorities arrested him for the assault.

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