Man Who Defaced Quanticos Iwo Jima Monument Is

Early Thursday night, my RedState colleague Ward Clark reported that Mexican national Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano was arrested for allegedly taking a sledgehammer to an Iwo Jima monument duplicate close to Quantico, VA. His motion exacted substantial harm; one of the Marine figures was even decapitated.

The causes for Maldonado Soriano’s presence in our nation had not immediately been established.

As Clark so cogently expressed:

And an act like this, because of that brotherhood, enrages all of us. We do not know if the goblin who did this initially got here right here from someplace else, whether or not he’s right here legally or illegally, or whether or not he was born right here. And, actually, in this context, it would not matter. The hate and disrespect he confirmed in the direction of a monument depicting the final word second on what was one of the best American feats of arms tells us all we need to know about Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano, and if the local authorities wished to put him in a cell with a couple of Marines and look the other method for a little while, most of us veterans would not have a lot downside with that.

Later this night, Fox News congressional correspondent Bill Melugin provided this update. Maldonado Soriano has now been charged with felony destruction of property and trespass with intent to harm property. To no one’s shock, Maldonado Soriano is certainly in this nation illegally, and has been since 1999, when he crossed the Southern border during the Clinton administration. Subsequent Democrat administrations have provided Maldonado Soriano with DACA protections, permitting him to stay in the inside and live by siphoning off the American taxpayer. That is until the Trump 47 administration selected not to renew his DACA standing.

NEW: Multiple federal sources verify to @FoxNews that the suspect arrested for utilizing a sledgehammer to behead a WW2 Iwo Jima monument in Quantico, VA on Tuesday is a Mexican unlawful alien & former DACA recipient whose legal standing expired this 12 months. Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano has now been charged with felony destruction of property and trespass with intent to harm property. Per federal sources, Soriano illegally crossed into the U.S. in December 1999. He was granted DACA by the Obama administration in 2014 and had it prolonged for years, most just lately by the Biden admin in 2024, but he misplaced his DACA standing in August of this 12 months when it wasn’t renewed by the Trump administration.

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 23, 2026

NEW: Multiple federal sources verify to @FoxNews that the suspect arrested for utilizing a sledgehammer to behead a WW2 Iwo Jima monument in Quantico, VA on Tuesday is a Mexican unlawful alien & former DACA recipient whose legal standing expired this 12 months. 

Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano has now been charged with felony destruction of property and trespass with intent to harm property.

Per federal sources, Soriano illegally crossed into the U.S. in December 1999. He was granted DACA by the Obama administration in 2014 and had it prolonged for years, most just lately by the Biden admin in 2024, but he misplaced his DACA standing in August of this 12 months when it wasn’t renewed by the Trump administration.

The Washington Post supplied more element about the harm Maldonado Soriano left in his wake. 

Prince William County police said a man took a sledgehammer to the Iwo Jima statue close to the Quantico Marine base in Virginia, inflicting what they estimated was a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} in harm.

Shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday, police discovered Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano “actively damaging the statue with a sledgehammer,” according to a police division daily incident report. The incident passed off at the intersection of Richmond Highway and Fuller Road in the neighborhood of Triangle.

The violence left one of the statue’s Marines without a head, according to police and images. A second Marine was lacking the bayonet from the rifle slung over his back. A 3rd determine’s helmet and face had been “chipped and gouged,” police said in a assertion.

Maldonado Soriano, 27, of Stafford, was arrested without incident, the report said. He faces two felony costs, injury to a monument and destruction of property, and a charge of misdemeanor trespass with intent to harm property. A consultant for the attorney listed in online court data as handling Maldonado Soriano’s case said the workplace couldn’t yet remark. He is being held without bond.

The White House issued a assertion on these latest developments.

White House assertion to @FoxNews:

“This criminal illegal alien’s dream is over: Maldonado Soriano disrespected our brave service members and defaced a beautiful monument that honored their sacrifice. President Trump has secured our border and is deporting illegal criminals who…

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 23, 2026

White House statement to @FoxNews:

“This criminal illegal alien’s dream is over: Maldonado Soriano disrespected our brave service members and defaced a beautiful monument that honored their sacrifice. President Trump has secured our border and is deporting illegal criminals who hate our country and our values. The socialist Democrats want to go back to open borders and flood our communities with dangerous criminal illegal aliens.” – Taylor Rogers, WH Spokeswoman

The causes why Maldonado Soriano determined to take this motion are still undetermined. 

Expect outrage over this to be dialed to 11. Here’s the silver lining: it just could have made it simpler for those on the fence to know how to vote. Particularly for those who care about our veterans and revere the symbols that honor their service, as nicely as respect the work of Customs and Border Security (CBP). This is also motive quantity 999 why everybody in the nation illegally must go home. There is no method to inform when that wonderful line between “just here to have a better life,” and violent assaults with a sledgehammer — or worse — on our statues and our residents will get crossed.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will decide the destiny of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must keep control of both chambers of Congress.

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