Judge Releases Mexican Man Who Beheaded War Memorial
Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano faces felony charges after police arrested him on October 21 while vandalizing the limestone statue near Marine Corps Base Quantico, with damage estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Virginia judge Petula Metzler granted him a $2,500 bond despite an ICE detainer and prosecutors’ objections.
The federal government expected to keep him in custody.
His DACA status expired in August 2026, and he is in the country illegally.
He is charged under 18 U.S.C. § 1361 for willfully injuring or destroying a monument on public property commemorating the service of persons in the armed forces under the jurisdiction of the Federal government (Destruction of Veterans’ Memorials), in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1369.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin called for deportation, labeling it an attack on Marines’ memory.
Oh, and officials listed his race as white, or it defaulted to white and was left unchanged.
Additionally, he is not a Virginia man.
It wasn’t a “Virginia man” who defaced the Iwo Jima statue at Quantico.
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) October 23, 2026
