Louisiana police chief details migrant's arrest for rape, robbery: 'Most heinous crimes we've seen in a while'

Honduran illegal immigrant, 19, accused of rape of 14-year-old at knifepoint

Honduran migrant arrested following the rape of a 14-year-old

Kenner, Louisiana Police Chief Keith Conley on the struggle to keep his community safe amid the migrant surge

The police chief in Kenner, Louisiana, sounded the alarm on the impact of the border crisis on his city Thursday after a Honduran migrant was arrested in separate rape and stabbing incidents.

Angel Matias Castellanos-Orellana, 19, had been on the loose for the rape of a 14-year-old girl at knifepoint when he was arrested Sunday for robbing a man at knifepoint as he got out of his car, the Kenner Police Department said in a Facebook post.

"It's shocking to the conscience of everyone in Kenner. … He's committed two of the most heinous crimes we've seen in the city in a while. The aggravated rape, first-degree, of a 14-year-old minor. And then he robs a 62-year-old gentleman in the front yard and stabs him in the face and neck," Police Chief Keith Conley told "Fox & Friends."

SALVADORAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTED IN CONNECTION TO MARYLAND MURDER OF 2-YEAR-OLD BOY

Mugshot of Angel Matias Castellanos-Orellana, 19,

An illegal immigrant from Honduras has been arrested in Louisiana for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl and repeatedly stabbing another man during a robbery. (Keller Police Department )

Castellanos-Orellana has been charged with armed robbery, aggravated battery, first-degree rape and aggravated assault for the two incidents. A federal ICE detainer was also issued for Castellanos-Orellan, police said. 

Conley described the suburban New Orleans community as being at a "disadvantage" from the migrant surge, explaining that police do not have the resources or ability to keep tabs on illegal immigrants and track their whereabouts through the system. 

"Our sole job should be patrolling the streets, enforcing traffic laws and making sure children get to school safely. Whenever things like this happen, it drains our resources. It's a financial drain to our budgets," he said.

"We have to depend on our federal partners to actually identify these people, but they use different IDs. They use different names, counterfeit license plates, counterfeit registrations. It is hard to identify."

Hundreds of migrants, predominantly from Venezuela, cross the Rio Grande with the intention of seeking humanitarian asylum by crossing the border between Mexico and the United States in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on December 05, 2023. Upon reaching the Rio Grande, they encountered a barrier of barbed wire and Texas National Guard soldiers prohibiting them from crossing the river. Nevertheless, many found a way to cross the river and formed a line in front of a gate in the wall marked with the number 36, hoping to be processed by the Border Patrol and subsequently apply for humanitarian asylum. (Photo by David Peinado/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Hundreds of migrants, predominantly from Venezuela, cross the Rio Grande with the intention of seeking humanitarian asylum by crossing the border between Mexico and the United States in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on December 05, 2023. (Photo by David Peinado/Anadolu via Getty Images) (David Peinado/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Nearly 7.3 million migrants have illegally crossed the southwest border under President Biden's watch, a number greater than the population of 36 individual states, a Fox News analysis found.

"We take a stance here in Kenner where if you don't have a driver's license, you're operating a motor vehicle, you have to go to jail to be processed so that we can at least start some kind of history on these individuals," Conley said of the city's response.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry passed on his well wishes to the victims and said Castellanos-Orellana should never have been in the state in the first place.

"This man should never have been in Louisiana! We must close our borders and keep our communities safe!," Landry wrote on X.

The Louisiana case is part of a string of high-profile cases in the U.S. in recent weeks, including the arrest of a Venezuelan illegal immigrant in the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley and the arrest of a Salvadoran immigrant in connection to the shooting death of a Maryland toddler.

Fox News' Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

Elizabeth Heckman is a digital production assistant with Fox News.

Authored by Elizabeth Heckman via FoxNews February 29th 2024