Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials are pleading with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to drop the state’s sanctuary policy after an illegal alien is accused of murdering an infant along with the child’s mother and grandmother in a brutal triple murder, Breitbart News has learned.
Joaquin Escoto Vazquez, a 28-year-old illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested by the Modesto Police Department and charged with homicide and cruelty towards a child after allegedly murdering an infant, the child’s 23-year-old mother, Fabiola Gonzalez-Nunez, and the child’s 54-year-old grandmother, Maria Sylvia Nunez-Villalobos.
According to police, Vazquez allegedly stabbed the three victims at a residence in Modesto. When police arrived on the scene, Vazquez was gone, but the infant, Gonzalez-Nunez, and Nunez-Villalobos were found with stab wounds.
Gonzalez-Nunez and Nunez-Villalobos were pronounced dead at the scene, while the infant was rushed to a hospital and later pronounced dead.
ICE officials told Breitbart News that Vasquez had previously been arrested on four occasions for drunk driving in California. His latest arrest for drunk driving, in June 2025, prompted ICE agents to lodge a detainer against him with the San Joaquin County Jail.
California’s sanctuary state policy ensured that the ICE detainer was ignored and Vasquez was subsequently released back into the community.
ICE agents have placed another detainer on Vasquez with the Stanislaus County Jail, urging officials to notify them if the illegal alien is released from jail at any time.
“This monster’s heinous crime could have been prevented if sanctuary politicians in California simply cooperated with ICE law enforcement,” the Department of Homeland Security’s Lauren Bis said.
“This criminal illegal alien from Mexico is now charged with homicide and cruelty toward a child after the fatal stabbings of a baby, the baby’s mother, and the baby’s grandmother,” she said. “… Governor Gavin Newsom and his fellow sanctuary politicians must stop putting lives at risk by releasing criminals from jails into California communities to create more victims.”
Vasquez first illegally crossed the southern border into California in 2018 but was deported by the first Trump administration. At a later date, Vasquez crossed the border again as an unknown got-away.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com.