A Venezuelan national who was released from a Northern California jail just one day before allegedly stabbing a 68-year-old retiree to death is reigniting criticism of the state’s sanctuary policies, after federal officials confirmed the suspect had an active immigration detainer at the time of his release.
Todd Stewart, a 68-year-old retiree from Martinez, California, was killed in his own front yard, according to authorities, in what investigators describe as an attempted burglary that turned deadly. Video footage reviewed by investigators shows a physical struggle between Stewart and the suspect, identified as Marcos Iriarte-Valdez, on the sidewalk outside the home before the fatal stabbing.
Iriarte-Valdez had been legally admitted to the United States during the George W. Bush administration but was later reclassified as an illegal alien, and the Department of Homeland Security had placed an immigration detainer on him in September. Court records show he was already facing burglary charges tied to two separate incidents in Contra Costa County and had allegedly violated the terms of home-detention monitoring imposed as a condition of his release. Despite that record, Judge Nichelle Holmes, a 2024 appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, released him from custody roughly 24 hours before the killing.
Following Stewart’s death, Iriarte-Valdez now faces charges of murder, corporal injury on a spouse, three counts of burglary, receiving stolen property, trespassing, loitering, and violating a protective order, a charge sheet reflecting what prosecutors describe as an extensive pattern of prior criminal conduct.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a pointed statement following the killing: “This Venezuelan illegal alien STABBED A FATHER TO DEATH in sanctuary California,” the agency said, calling on Newsom to surrender the suspect to federal custody for removal proceedings rather than allow him to remain in the state court system.
The case has become the latest flashpoint in the long-running national fight over sanctuary jurisdictions, with critics arguing that California’s policies limiting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities directly enabled a preventable death. Newsom’s office had not issued a public response to the DHS statement as of Thursday, and it remains unclear whether state or local authorities intend to honor any future federal detainer requests involving Iriarte-Valdez as his criminal case proceeds.
