Minnesota Woman Allegedly Raped After Judge Ordered Release

An immigration case in Minnesota has exploded into a much bigger story after a man released from custody later faced a rape charge tied to a woman’s own home. Federal authorities say the sequence of events raises sharp questions about custody decisions, deportation delays, and the consequences when a final removal order comes too late. The case has also become another flashpoint in the wider fight over immigration enforcement and the role of federal judges.

Marcotulio Melendez Diaz, 42, a Honduran national, was accused of working as a handyman on Oct. 11 when he allegedly overpowered a woman and raped her inside her Mounds View home. Authorities said the assault was caught on indoor surveillance video, giving investigators a stark record of what happened. The charge has put a terrifying spotlight on a case that had already moved through immigration court and federal detention.

ICE has been especially blunt about what it sees as a preventable outcome. The agency blamed U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia for ordering Melendez Diaz released in August, arguing that he should have stayed in custody while his immigration case played out. In ICE’s view, the attack would never have happened if the release order had not gone through.

According to federal officials, Melendez Diaz had first been apprehended and released at the southern border by the Biden administration in April 2024. He was later arrested in Minnesota in January 2026 during Operation Metro Surge and transferred to ICE detention in Texas. That set the stage for a deportation order issued on March 30, though the legal fight was far from over.

That appeal is where the case took a sharp turn. While the deportation order was under review, Garcia granted Melendez Diaz’s habeas petition and ordered him released on due process grounds, saying his detention had been unlawful or unreasonably prolonged. The ruling sent him back to Minnesota, where he was no longer behind bars and no longer under direct federal custody.

Then came the final immigration decision, followed almost immediately by the criminal case. On Oct. 9, his appeal was denied and the Board of Immigration Appeals issued a deportation order against him. Two days later, he was charged with rape, a timing that has fueled outrage among immigration hardliners and victim advocates alike.

The criminal charge is first-degree criminal sexual penetration involving coercion, a serious felony that carries major prison time if he is convicted. Melendez Diaz remains in custody and faces up to 30 years behind bars. The mugshot and case details have only deepened the public anger surrounding the release decision.

ICE officials also said Melendez Diaz had been released after his initial border encounter, then picked up again only after he was already living inside the country. That sequence has become central to the criticism, because the agency argues the system repeatedly failed to keep track of someone it believed should have been removed. The case now sits at the intersection of immigration law, courtroom procedure, and a violent crime that has left one woman with a life-changing trauma.

For supporters of tougher enforcement, the episode fits a familiar pattern: release first, consequences later. They see activist judges and slow-moving appeals as part of a system that gives dangerous people too many chances to slip through the cracks. The fallout from this case is likely to keep echoing well beyond Minnesota, because it lands squarely in the middle of a national argument that is not cooling off anytime soon.