PARENTS AND COMMUNITY DEMAND ANSWERS
Walter Javier Martinez Plead Guilty to Murder
Last year, parents in Baltimore City discovered that a convicted child rapist who is a juvenile was attending Patterson High School in Baltimore City. This was all in line with Maryland law. In fact, the court order upon the juvenile’s conviction, was that he get a GED or attend school. As a convicted rapist, he was also ordered to have “no unsupervised contact with children under 15.”
The mother of the young rape victim was devastated when she found out he was attending school in Baltimore City. She was even more alarmed that parents of students in that school were not notified.
Because of the uproar from parents and timely news reporting from FOX 45, the Maryland Senate acted to fast-track SB 1145 to correct the situation. The rapist was put on virtual instruction. House bill 1145 could help keep convicted juvenile criminals from sitting next to your child in school. (*note: we could not find on the Maryland Legislative website if this bill was actually passed through both chambers of the State Legislature.)
Senate fast-tracks bill to keep juvenile sex offenders out of Maryland schools (foxbaltimore.com)
Now, parents of students in the Harford County Public Schools are facing the reality that a murderer and member of the notorious MS-13 gang attended their child’s school and possibly sat next to their child in class before he was arrested. Here is the information on the arrest of this juvenile from the Harford County State’s Attorney:
Under the Biden Administration’s radical open borders policies, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and the Department of Homeland Security have allowed illegal aliens who are dangerous criminals such as Martinez into our communities and our public schools.
One tragic example of the failure to enforce U.S. Immigration law is the murder of 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton in Aberdeen, Maryland in July 2022. Kayla was brutally raped and killed by Walter Javier Martinez, a 16-year-old illegal alien and member of the violent MS-13 gang from El Salvador.
This arrest is terrifying in itself but this excerpt from the above press release is worse:
Following his arrest, Martinez authored a letter while incarcerated at the Harford County Detention Center where he admitted to committing 4 murders, 2 rapes, and additional other crimes, which was also provided to the court in support of the plea.
Parents and students in Harford County had no idea that this murderer lived and went to school among them. Martinez, an individual who was a clear and present danger to society, was allowed to register and attend a Harford County Public School High School after he was designated a person of interest by the Aberdeen Police Department in the murder of Kayla Hamilton. Because of his age and the potential threat to students, the Harford County Public Schools and surrounding school districts should have been informed.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials expressed concerns for the safety of children who lived in the same foster home as Martinez. This was noted in this file dated August 2022:
Where was the same concern for students and staff of Harford County Public Schools?
The murder was purportedly not the first act of extreme violence Martinez committed. The murder took place five days after he was placed in a group home where Kayla and her boyfriend lived. During a time he was left alone in the home with Kayla while other residents were at work, he beat, raped and ultimately murdered her. When he was finally incarcerated at the Harford County Detention Center, Martinez confessed in a letter that he had committed four other murders, two other rapes, and various other crimes.
This could mean that he committed these crimes while attending classes at a Harford County high school.
No parents, students, or staff were aware of such a dangerous predator in their midst.
Sadly, there are reasons why an evil person like Martinez ends up in our public schools. First, the Biden/Harris Administration has done nothing to stop the millions of illegals crossing the border each year. These illegals include juvenile gang members like Martinez who are violent criminals and are not vetted by Border Patrol. These juveniles usually show up without parents or family. Members of the gangs tell them how to work the deeply flawed U.S. Immigration system. Then, leftist groups such as the ACLU work to protect these criminal juveniles while endangering communities by keeping them from vetting these juveniles:
Microsoft Word – 2017-11-16 FAQ for Educators Immigrants (FINAL with logo).docx (aclu.org)
One has to ask if the safety of our children is being sacrificed because of the federal government’s lax immigration policies.
Basically, the schools seem to have diminished power to demand proof of identity for students who are illegal immigrants due to the misguided assignment of citizen’s rights to non-citizens. The Federal Government and legal system twist Federal law to defend those who should never have been protected while leaving citizens at the mercy of criminals and gang members.
It must be noted that when American citizens show up to enroll their child into a school without the records the schools want, that child will be turned away. As one parent stated on social media: ” I had to show proof of everything to get my kids in HCPS, but he (Martinez) had nothing. Another case of illegals before citizens. And that poor girl and her family suffered.”
If an illegal has no documentation of age, identity etc. then the schools must rely on the word of the parents or adults registering the child. Officials may not even know how old the person is who is registering for school.
Does that excuse the Harford County Public Schools from allowing this murderer to roam the halls and sit in the classrooms of their schools?
No. Regardless of the law regarding immigration, they had a duty to protect the students of their system and there were things they could have done. For example, when a juvenile who is illegal comes in to register with little to no information, the schools should contact local police agencies who may have information regarding that student, their family and their possible gang affiliations.
Through investigation, local police were able to discover information about this student:
Police also say the teenager was found to be an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, who was also listed in El Salvador as a member of MS-13, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Purportedly, allegations of gang membership or association are a top priority for immigration apprehension, detention, and deportation. It certainly should keep them out of schools, group homes and communities.
Following Martinez’s guilty plea to the murder of Hamilton, State’s Attorney Alison Healey stated, ” This murder was one of the most brutal and heinous crimes I have ever prosecuted. No one deserves to suffer and die as the hands of a monster like this victim did. Additionally, this defendant, residing in our country illegally, had no legal right to be here, preying on the members of our communities, and perpetuating the same violent gang activity that he did in his own country.”
Unfortunately, the House judiciary, local and national media, and local agencies have failed to address this criminal’s attendance in Harford County Public Schools. It’s time for authorities at the county, state and national level to investigate how a violent Salvadoran MS-13 gang member was able to infiltrate a small school district like Harford County Public Schools. They need to examine the circumstances, failures, and loopholes surrounding his enrollment and issue an addendum to their Congressional report.
Harford County Public Schools need to answer critical questions regarding their safety and vetting protocols for enrolling undocumented students into the county’s schools:
- How was this individual who was considered dangerous, able to register and attend school?
- Was the district informed by the Aberdeen Police Department of his status as a person of interest in a murder investigation?
- Which enrollment and vetting processes were used to evaluate the potential risk to students and staff by allowing this juvenile into the schools?
- What actions will be taken to prevent a similar situation from happening in the future?
- Why hasn’t community, including parents and students, been informed of this potential threat?
Harford County is thousands of miles from our Southern Border, yet this murder is the second by an illegal immigrant to occur in the past few years.
Trump meets with Rachel Morin family at border | Fox News
Harford County resident Rachel Morin, a mother of five, was brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant just last year.
In today’s world, however, it has become clear that some would rather protect criminals than do the right thing and protect our citizens. We have seen it in Baltimore City and now Harford County. It’s likely that the Harford County Public Schools will issue a statement that says their “hands were tied.” They will deflect responsibility toward someone else and play the victim role. And the children in their schools will remain at risk.
The bottom line is that whether this violent gang member attended one second, one minute, one hour, one day, one week or one month in the Harford County Public Schools, it was too long considering his propensity to violence.
As more young illegals enroll in our public schools, officials need to be more vigilant about who these students are, especially if they are older. There are ways to determine if any juvenile, particularly an illegal, is a member of a gang or criminal group. Schools HAVE to develop a process to prevent this ever happening again by working with local law enforcement. Local law enforcement has to communicate with local systems. It will slow down the enrollment, but this extra delay in getting a student into school could save the lives of other students.
At the very least, districts must communicate with parents regarding situations like this. Specifically, Harford County Public Schools have to issue a public statement informing parents and community that a violent murderer walked the halls with their children.
Parents are demanding answers.
If it can happen in Harford County, it can happen in schools all over the country.
From a local social media group:
Immediate Call To Action
**Outrageous Negligence in Harford County Schools**
A convicted criminal with ties to MS-13 and a history of extreme violence was shockingly allowed to enroll in and attend our local high school, putting our children at serious risk. This individual is connected to multiple murders, rapes, and other horrific crimes, yet HCPS has failed to inform parents about the danger their children faced in a place where they should feel safe.
This is unacceptable. We must demand immediate action:
Investigate and hold those responsible accountable.
Implement stricter vetting processes for all school admissions.
Strengthen communication and reporting protocols to protect our students.
Our children’s safety cannot be compromised. Join me in demanding answers and real change from Harford County Public Schools.
#ProtectOurKids #HarfordCounty #AccountabilityNow
#fessuphcps
**Write Harford County Board of Education including Superintendent Bulson, The Harford County Delegation, Harford County State Senators, Harford County Executive, Harford County Council, The Harford County Sheriff, State’s Attorney Alison Healey and Manager of Communications for Harford County Public Schools Jillian Lader and demand they issue a statement acknowledging the danger they put students and staff in, along with taking accountability for this egregious negligence. **
Board of Education emails
Ca*********@**ps.org
De**********@**ps.org
Di***********@**ps.org
Me**********@**ps.org
La************@**ps.org
Ca***********@**ps.org
Aa***********@**ps.org
Se*********@**ps.org
Te**********@**ps.org
Wa*********@**ps.org
sa**********@**ps.org
Harford County State Senators
ja***********@*************md.us
jb*********@*************md.us
ma**************@*************md.us
Harford County House of Delegates
la***********@************md.us
an***********@************md.us
mi***********@************md.us
st***********@************md.us
su***********@************md.us
te***********@************md.us
County Executive Bob Cassilly
co*************@*************md.gov
Harford County Sheriff
je********@***il.com
Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey
st****@*************md.gov
Harford County Council
pv*******@******************il.com
df*******@******************il.com
ad******@******************il.com
tg***********@******************il.com
jr*****@******************il.com
jb********@******************il.com
jd*******@******************il.com
Local contributors added to this story.
Other links:
Jan Greenhawk, Author
