U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other federal officials arrested an illegal immigrant who was recently released from a county jail despite facing multiple charges of sex crimes against children. 

Oscar Adalberto Penate, a 56-year-old from El Salvador, was taken back into custody on July 27 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations and the IRS’ Philadelphia offices. The Department of Homeland Security said Penate – who had an ICE detainer placed on him – was allowed to walk out of the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania “due to the county’s sanctuary policies.”

“If the elected officials in Montgomery County are not going to protect the citizens of the county, we will,” said ICE ERO Philadelphia Field Office Director Brian McShane said in a statement. “An illegal alien who committed a crime by unlawfully entering the United States, who is then charged with heinous crimes like this, should never be released to prey on the citizens of Montgomery County.

“The sanctuary policies recently enacted by the Montgomery County Commissioners forced prison officials to release this individual to the streets rather than turn him over to ICE officials on the detainer filed against him,” McShane added. “I am just glad we got him before he could harm another.”

ICE conducted an operation at a car wash in Philadelphia earlier this year. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

Those charges against Penate are pending. 

“His criminal history includes an arrest by the Houston Police Department on Aug. 18, 2001, for resisting arrest, search or transport,” Homeland Security also said. “He pleaded guilty to these charges Aug. 24, 2001.” 

Penate will now remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings, Homeland Security added. 

Protesters gather to protest the ongoing deportations and activities by ICE and President Donald Trump’s administration on Independence Mall in Philadelphia, Pa., on May 31, 2025.  (Matthew Hatcher/AFP via Getty Images)

The government of Montgomery County did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.