A Honduran man who was released from immigration detention following a federal court ruling in August has been charged with raping a woman in her Minnesota home in October, federal immigration authorities told Fox News. Marcotulio Melendez Diaz, 42, remains in custody and could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
Authorities said Melendez Diaz was doing handyman work at a home in Mounds View on Oct. 11 when he allegedly overpowered the woman who lived there and repeatedly raped her. Officials said an indoor surveillance system recorded the alleged assault. He faces a felony charge of first-degree criminal sexual penetration involving coercion.
The accusation prompted Immigration and Customs Enforcement to criticize U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia, who had ordered Melendez Diaz released from the agency's custody. ICE argued that keeping him detained would have prevented the alleged attack. Garcia, appointed by President Bill Clinton, serves in the Western District of Texas.
The release followed Garcia's decision to grant Melendez Diaz's habeas petition on due process grounds. The judge found that his detention had been unlawful or unreasonably prolonged. At the time of the ruling, Melendez Diaz was appealing an immigration judge's deportation order. The decision permitting his release allowed him to return to Minnesota.
According to ICE sources who spoke to Fox News, Melendez Diaz was first apprehended at the southern border in April 2024 and released by the Biden administration. Authorities said he was arrested again in Minnesota in January 2026 during Operation Metro Surge, then transferred to immigration detention in Texas.
An immigration judge ordered his deportation on March 30, according to the authorities. Melendez Diaz challenged that decision, and the deportation order remained under review when Garcia ordered him released in August. The federal court's ruling addressed the lawfulness and length of his detention on due process grounds.
On Oct. 9, the Board of Immigration Appeals rejected his appeal and issued a deportation order against him. The rape charge came two days after that order became final, according to the account provided by federal immigration authorities.
In its statement criticizing the release, ICE pointed to its earlier arrest of Melendez Diaz and the immigration judge's deportation decision. The agency blamed the federal court's intervention for allowing him out of custody before the alleged crime. The criminal charge remains an allegation, with a prison sentence of up to 30 years possible upon conviction.
