The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has once again taken into custody an undocumented immigrant accused of abducting a 4-year-old girl from a laundromat on Long Island. This arrest follows a local judge’s decision to release the suspect back into the public.
Originally from Ecuador, Carlos Corte-Corte was apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on March 31. He now faces deportation proceedings, as disclosed by DHS on Monday.
The 38-year-old allegedly enticed the young child away from the Laundry Kingdom in Patchogue on March 28, as her mother was occupied inside, according to Suffolk County Police. The girl was subsequently located at a nearby library.
Suffolk authorities swiftly detained Corte-Corte, charging him with second-degree kidnapping, endangerment of a child’s welfare, and for an outstanding warrant. However, a local judge later granted him supervised release the following day.
DHS expressed frustration in a statement, criticizing “sanctuary politicians” for allowing Corte-Corte’s release after his initial arrest.
Records from DHS indicate Corte-Corte illegally entered the United States on three separate occasions in 2020, each time being deported again.
He illegally re-entered the US a fourth time at an unknown place and time before the alleged kidnapping attempt.
âThis three-time deported criminal illegal alien, Carlos Corte-Corte, kidnapped an innocent four-year-old girl from a laundromat on Long Island. New York sanctuary politicians chose to release this kidnapper from jail to prey on more innocent children rather than cooperate with ICE law enforcement,â Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told The Post.
âSanctuary politicians must stop putting politics above public safety,â she added. âThis type of insanity leads to more crimes and more innocent victims.
âThanks to our ICE law enforcement, this sicko is off our streets.â
Corte-Corte was on supervised release with a GPS monitor after being freed from jail â without bail â by Suffolk County District Judge James F. Leonick.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told The Post last Sunday that he disagreed with Leonickâs move to release the alleged child kidnapper.
âI think if you look at the facts of the case, clearly theyâre concerning,â Tierney said.
Corte-Corteâs public defender had argued that the alleged kidnapping appeared to be a result of miscommunication.
âHe thought the girl lived alone without parents,â Suffolk County legal aid attorney Alexandra Dyroff told the court.
âHe took her to the library and told an employee there as such, but there was a language barrier. It seems to be a mistake,â the defense attorney claimed.
