There seems to be a full-court press over every single illegal alien who dies of natural causes after making the perilous journey over our border. Yet there is almost no coverage even of the most high-profile murders committed by illegal aliens, including by the “children” coming through our border from Central America and being released into our communities.

Last week, three teens, including two confirmed illegal aliens from El Salvador, were charged with first-degree murder in Prince George’s County, Maryland, for allegedly butchering a 14-year-old with a bat and machete. Josue Rafael Fuentes-Ponce, 16, and Joel Ernesto Escobar, 17, both gang members, were arrested on May 16 by PG County police for the murder of 14-year-old Ariana Funes-Diaz in a wooded area in Riverdale. Shockingly, a 14-year-old girl, Cynthia Hernandez-Nucamendi, was also arrested for the murder last week.

Gang-style murders committed by illegal aliens have become very common both on the Maryland and Virginia sides of Washington D.C., as these counties are saturated with illegal aliens from Central America who are often connected to MS-13. Yet nobody in the local media reported on their immigration status until now.

In response to a media request from CR last week regarding the immigration status of those charged, ICE has now confirmed that the two male suspects were both illegal aliens from El Salvador who were released into the country – one as part of a family unit and one as an unaccompanied alien child. It turns out both were arrested for attempted murder almost exactly a year ago, and both were released by the PG County criminal justice system in defiance of an ICE detainer.

ICE has confirmed that Josue Rafael Fuentes-Ponce was first apprehended as part a family unit in Texas on December 23, 2015. “They were ultimately paroled into the U.S. pending the outcome of the immigration case,” said ICE spokeswoman Justine Whelan in a statement. An immigration judge ordered Fuentes removed in absentia on March 16, 2017, but like so many of them, it was too late. He had already disappeared.

Escobar had a parallel experience, except that because his family smuggled him in alone, he was resettled as an unaccompanied alien child. “On Aug. 23, 2016, immigration officials encountered unlawfully present El Salvadoran national Joel Ernesto Escobar as an unaccompanied juvenile near McAllen, Texas. Escobar was transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, and later released to a family member in the Washington, D.C. area,” said Whelan.

The fact that, once again, illegal aliens released into our country as part of a smuggling operation were allowed to remain and allegedly commit murder would be tragic enough, but that is not the end of the story.