A man who was arrested last month for allegedly chaining two children at their ankles inside a Fairfax County, Virginia, home is an illegal immigrant who was deported under the Trump administration before returning to the U.S., according to Fox News reporter Bill Melugin.

Franklin Viera Guevara, 29, along with his 47-year-old girlfriend Wedni Del Cid Rodriguez, were charged with two counts of child neglect, two counts of child cruelty, and two counts of abduction after police found two boys — ages 7 and 9 — chained to a post inside Rodriguez’s home, Fox 5 reported. Rodriguez is the mother of the boys.

Melugin reported on Thursday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed to Fox News that Guevara is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. ICE said that Guevara was arrested in November 2018 after illegally crossing the southern border near McAllen, Texas, and deported in February 2019.

“Viera unlawfully re-entered the United States on an unknown date, at an unknown location and without being inspected, admitted, or paroled by a U.S. immigration official,” ICE said in a statement. “Fairfax County Police arrested Viera Aug. 16 for two counts of child abuse/neglect: reckless disregard for life, two counts of child endangerment while in one’s custody, and two counts of child abduction: by force. Later that day, ERO Washington, D.C. lodged an immigration detainer against Viera with the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.”

NEW: ICE confirms to @FoxNews that the suspect charged in Fairfax County, VA in a horrific child abuse case where two boys, ages 7 & 9, were found chained at the ankles, is a Salvadoran illegal alien who was previously deported in 2019, but re-entered as a gotaway at an unknown… pic.twitter.com/gyXdIoP0Vo

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) September 5, 2024

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Officers were called to investigate potential child neglect at Rodriguez’s home and heard chains rattling in the apartment when they knocked on the door, according to a criminal complaint. After the door was opened, officers saw the two boys with chains around their ankles next to a sleeping cot.

Rodriguez and Guevara allegedly told officers that they kept the children chained up to “scare them” and keep them from leaving the apartment. Guevara also allegedly said the boys were left alone and chained up when he and Rodriguez were away. According to court documents, one of the boys got ahold of a phone and sent a photo of his chained ankle to their sister, and the sister called the police.

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Rodriguez was released on bond after her arrest, and Guevara is being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center on no bond, Fox 5 reported.