Federal immigration officials are sounding the alarm after anti-ICE activists in Colorado reportedly interfered with a planned arrest of a known child rapist—allowing the suspect to escape.
Jose Reyes Leon?Deras, a Salvadoran national convicted of raping a minor in Italy, had been targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the Denver area. But according to ICE officials, a local activist group monitoring federal operations alerted the public in real time, broadcasting the agents’ exact location and vehicle description online. Moments later, Leon?Deras vanished before he could be taken into custody.
ICE agents described the interference as a “reckless and dangerous act” that jeopardized public safety and protected a violent criminal from facing justice. The suspect is still at large.
Authorities say Leon?Deras was previously deported but reentered the United States illegally. He is now the subject of a national manhunt, and federal officials are urging anyone with knowledge of his whereabouts to contact ICE immediately—stressing that he should not be approached.
The incident has reignited the debate over so-called “sanctuary city” policies and activist groups that work to obstruct federal immigration enforcement. Denver, like several other Democrat-run jurisdictions, has implemented policies that limit cooperation with ICE, including barring local police from assisting in certain immigration arrests.
ICE officials said the case is a prime example of how activism can cross the line into outright obstruction, putting communities at risk and enabling the evasion of dangerous offenders.
“This man is not a political talking point,” one federal agent stated. “He is a convicted child rapist walking free because someone decided to play politics with law enforcement.”