<\/p>\n
Police released this image of a man they say stabbed a 68-year-old Martinez man to death and then fled in a Cadillac SUV. He was not arrested as of early Friday evening.<\/p>\n
Martinez Police Department<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump\u2019s administration blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom this week for the brutal Aug. 6 killing of a Martinez man<\/a> during an attempted home burglary, claiming the state\u2019s sanctuary law shielded the alleged murderer from federal immigration officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n The truth, as always, is more complicated. But that hasn\u2019t stopped the tragedy from erupting into another bitter feud between Trump\u2019s right-wing government and liberal California, with the state\u2019s immigration policies at the center of a finger-pointing political debate that once again lacks nuance.<\/p>\n Border czar Tom Homan told Fox News<\/a> that 68-year-old Todd Stewart is \u201cdead because Gov. Newsom and the state of California puts politics, hatred over President Trump, over public safety.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The administration is blaming one of its favorite targets, the state\u2019s sanctuary law, which was signed<\/a> by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017 and limits the extent to which state and local law enforcement officials can cooperate with federal immigration officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump has vilified California\u2019s sanctuary law for years. A San Francisco judge last year struck down<\/a> a Trump order to withhold billions of dollars from San Francisco and other local jurisdictions that have sanctuary policies. The U.S. Supreme Court previously rejected a Trump administration challenge to California\u2019s law<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Newsom\u2019s spokesperson, Diana Crofts-Pelayo, said in a statement that the alleged killer, Marcos Iriarte-Valdez, \u201cshould face justice for his alleged crime.\u201d But she disputed that California\u2019s sanctuary law played a role in Stewart\u2019s death.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCalifornia takes public safety seriously, and nothing in California law prevents federal authorities from enforcing federal immigration law,\u201d she said, adding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has \u201cbillions of dollars and substantial resources\u201d to do its work.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Iriarte-Valdez pleaded not guilty for fatally stabbing Stewart during an attempted home burglary at his Wednesday arraignment, and was ordered held without bail after a judge deemed him \u201ca risk to public safety.\u201d Iriarte-Valdez\u2019s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump officials contend Iriarte-Valdez should never have had the chance to allegedly kill Stewart.\u00a0<\/p>\n Iriarte-Valdez currently faces two felony residential burglary charges from April. He was initially released from custody in May by a Contra Costa Superior Court judge, who ordered electronic monitoring as part of his pre-trial conditions. He was then brought before Judge Nichelle Holmes on Aug. 5, a day before Stewart was killed, for allegedly violating his home detention requirements. He was released again with electronic monitoring, according to county court records and the Martinez Police Department<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security claims Iriarte-Valdez is \u201ca criminal alien from Venezuela with citizenship in Spain.\u201d The department said he was legally admitted to the United States in 2007, under President George W. Bush. But it\u2019s unclear if the department is even referring to the correct person. In its statement, the agency referred to as \u201cMarcos Eduardo Iriarte Valdezusper,\u201d and did not respond to a follow-up question about the last name discrepancy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The department told Fox News<\/a> this week that it had placed an immigration detainer in September 2025 for Iriarte-Valdez, who had entered a diversion program after facing a misdemeanor charge for allegedly violating a protective order last year filed by an ex-girlfriend<\/a>. A detainer asks local law enforcement to notify federal officials<\/a> before they release a person of interest and to hold the individual for up to 48 hours beyond than their scheduled release.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThe safest way to arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens from our streets is by lodging arrest detainers,\u201d a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. \u201cBecause sanctuary cities refuse to work with ICE, criminal illegal aliens are released from jails into American communities to perpetuate more crimes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But in a statement to the Chronicle, the department said it had placed the detainer on Aug. 8, after Stewart\u2019s killing. It did not answer questions for clarification on the timeline of when and how many detainers it had placed and when and how Iriarte-Valdez\u2019s immigration status changed.<\/p>\n Regardless, it\u2019s true that California\u2019s sanctuary law would have prohibited the Contra Costa Sheriff\u2019s Department from honoring a detainer request<\/a>. The law largely limits local and state law enforcement from cooperating with federal officials until after a person is convicted of a crime and is released from custody.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not a lawful order to hold somebody in custody just because another agency asks you to,\u201d said former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, now the executive director of the UC Berkeley Criminal Law and Justice Center. \u201cIf you unlawfully detain someone, you will get sued for violating civil rights.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Boudin said that if immigration officials were interested in detaining Iriarte-Valdez, they should have obtained an arrest warrant, superseding California law. \u201cIf ICE had a warrant for his arrest, he would have been held,\u201d Boudin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Contra Costa Sheriff\u2019s Department did not respond to a request for comment. But in a 2024 report<\/a>, it noted that the office does not honor detainer requests but will fulfill a notification request in compliance with state law and \u201conly for inmates held for certain charges, specifically inmates convicted of a serious or a violent felony.\u201d<\/p>\n Homan said in his Fox News interview that immigration officials \u201cdid our job\u201d in locating and investigating Iriarte-Valdez\u2019s immigration status and history in the criminal justice system.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing illegal, there\u2019s nothing about the sanctuary law in California, for a deputy to just pick the phone up and say, \u2018Hey this guy is being released in an hour,\u2019\u201d Homan said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to hold him one minute longer than you would normally hold him. Just call us before you release him.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Crofts-Pelayo said federal law enforcement officials could have taken Iriarte-Valdez into custody if they wanted.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf they had determined to target this individual, nothing would have stopped them from tracking his public court hearings and taking him into custody,\u201d she said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t, and now they are trying to blame everyone but themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Holmes, the judge who approved Iriarte-Valdez\u2019s release last week, has in recent days come under right-wing fire. But that, too, was a nuanced decision. Holmes was limited in keeping Iriarte-Valdez in custody due to an April 30 state Supreme Court decision<\/a> that determined it was unconstitutional to hold most defendants in custody on bail they can\u2019t afford<\/a>. Holmes, a former prosecutor whom Newsom appointed<\/a> to the bench in 2024, did not respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Iriarte-Valdez\u2019s case has also sparked scrutiny over the Supreme Court ruling, which prosecutors throughout California, including San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins<\/a>, have raised concerns about for the last several months.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cJudges are in a very, very difficult spot,\u201d said Greg Totten, CEO of the California District Attorneys Association. \u201cThey can have someone in front of them that they\u2019re really concerned about public safety, that this person is going to go out and offend. But they can\u2019t afford bail.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton\u2019s office charged Iriarte-Valdez with murder on Monday, and added three enhancements for killing during a burglary, using a knife and committing a crime while out on conditional release. He faces life without parole. His next hearing is Sept. 9 in Richmond.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur office will pursue this case with diligence and integrity to hold Iriarte-Valdez fully accountable under the law for this devastating act of violence,\u201d Becton said in a statement.<\/p>\n