A 68-year-old Bay Area retiree was allegedly stabbed to death on his own front lawn by an illegal Venezuelan immigrant who had been released from custody just 24 hours earlier, and the Trump administration says California's sanctuary policies are to blame.
Tom Homan, President Trump's border czar, went on Fox & Friends Thursday and laid the killing of Todd Stewart squarely at Governor Gavin Newsom's feet. Stewart, a retiree in Martinez, California, was attacked last week in broad daylight by a man he had no known connection to, a man ICE had flagged for deportation months earlier and asked local authorities to hold.
They didn't hold him. A Newsom-appointed judge, Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Nichelle Holmes, released 36-year-old Marcos Iriarte-Valdez on his own recognizance after he violated the terms of his home detention on a residential burglary case. The next day, Stewart was dead.
The federal government's paper trail on Iriarte-Valdez stretches back well before the alleged murder. The Department of Homeland Security placed an immigration detainer on him on September 23, 2025, Fox News reported. That detainer asked California authorities to notify ICE before releasing him so federal agents could take custody.
Homan described the process in plain terms on Fox & Friends:
"We did our job. We located this person in their facility. We did an investigation, found out he is an illegal in the United States, has a criminal history, he is deportable, so we issued a detainer, asking them to notify us before they release him."
California's sanctuary law restricts local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. But Homan argued the law does not bar a simple phone call. He said nothing prevented a deputy from picking up the phone and telling ICE that Iriarte-Valdez was walking out the door.
"There's nothing against a sanctuary law in California for a deputy to just pick the phone up and just say that, 'Hey, this guy is being released in a hour.' You don't have to hold him one minute longer than you would normally hold him."
No one made that call. Judge Holmes, appointed by Newsom in 2024, released Iriarte-Valdez on his own recognizance despite the active federal detainer, despite his criminal record, and despite the fact that he had already violated the conditions of his home detention.
Iriarte-Valdez entered the United States in 2007. He holds both Venezuelan and Spanish citizenship. Over the years he racked up a record that should have raised every available red flag.
Contra Costa County booking records show an October 2025 arrest for DUI and hit-and-run causing property damage. Beyond that, he faced three counts of burglary, charges of receiving known stolen property, trespassing, entering a non-commercial dwelling, and loitering. He had a prior conviction for violating a court-ordered protective order. He was charged with inflicting corporal injury on a spouse.
And still, a California judge looked at that record and let him walk.
The day after his release, surveillance footage captured what happened next. Iriarte-Valdez allegedly pulled up to Stewart's residential street in a Cadillac SUV, wearing dark jeans, a gray shirt, and a protective vest. The video showed the two men tussling on the sidewalk between parked cars. Stewart was knocked to the ground. Iriarte-Valdez allegedly continued stabbing him as he lay on the pavement. Stewart was heard screaming.
Police said there was no known connection between the two men. Fox News reported the attack occurred during an attempted burglary. Stewart, a 68-year-old retiree, died from the assault. Iriarte-Valdez now sits in custody on $1.1 million bail, charged with murder.
The Department of Homeland Security did not limit its response to Homan's television appearance. DHS posted publicly demanding that Newsom turn Iriarte-Valdez over to federal authorities for removal, Breitbart reported.
DHS stated: "Another innocent American was killed because of California's reckless sanctuary policies. How many more innocent people have to die before Gavin Newsom and sanctuary politicians stop playing games with the safety of Americans?"
On social media, the department wrote that Newsom "must NOT RELEASE this murderer from jail and turn him over to us so we can REMOVE him from our nation."
Homan framed the case as part of a pattern that has repeated itself for years under sanctuary jurisdictions. He told Fox & Friends the problem is not new and not isolated.
"It's just politics, a sanctuary jurisdiction. Over a decade, I can't think of the hundreds of cases like this that happened. It's just one case after another after another."
Then he delivered his sharpest line:
"This person's dead because Governor Newsom and the state of California puts politics, hatred of President Trump, over public safety."
Newsom's office responded with a statement to the California Post that did not address the judge's decision to release Iriarte-Valdez, did not address the ignored ICE detainer, and did not mention Todd Stewart by name.
A spokesperson said: "California takes public safety seriously, and nothing in California law prevents federal authorities from enforcing federal immigration law."
The spokesperson added: "The federal government has billions of dollars and substantial resources to enforce federal law, they should do their job instead of blaming California for ICE's enforcement failures."
That response asks the public to accept two things at once: that California's sanctuary framework does not obstruct federal enforcement, and that the federal government, not California, bears responsibility when an illegal immigrant with a long criminal record walks free and allegedly kills someone. Homan's counterpoint is straightforward. ICE filed the detainer. ICE asked for a phone call. California refused to make it. A man is dead.
The governor's office did not explain why a judge it appointed released a repeat offender who had already violated his home detention, or why no one in the system flagged the active federal detainer before Iriarte-Valdez walked out.
Several questions remain unanswered. No motive for the attack has been disclosed. The investigation appears ongoing. The specific burglary case that led to Iriarte-Valdez's home detention has not been publicly detailed. And the outcomes of his many prior charges, burglary, spousal abuse, stolen property, remain unclear.
What is clear is the sequence. ICE identified an illegal immigrant with a criminal record. ICE filed a detainer. A Newsom-appointed judge released that man on his own recognizance. No one notified federal authorities. Twenty-four hours later, a 68-year-old retiree was stabbed on his own front lawn in a quiet Bay Area city and left to die.
Newsom's office says California takes public safety seriously. Todd Stewart's family has every reason to disagree.
