Boy, 3, Dies With Severe Injuries After Mother Was Deported by ICE and Child Left With Uncle

A three-year-old boy was allegedly tortured and killed by his uncle after his mother was deported in January by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and the child was left in his care.

Orlin Hernandez Reyes died on March 4. Authorities have since lodged an immigration detainer against the accused, Samuel Antonio Maldonado-Erazo.

Maldonado-Erazo’s sister, Wendy Esther Hernandez Reyes, is the little boy’s mother. ICE claimed she “chose not to take her U.S. citizen child with her.”

Authorities said the child’s injuries were consistent with prolonged abuse. According to local reports, Maldonado-Erazo, 28, brought the boy to work with him and allegedly ignored signs that the child was in extreme distress.

The Washington Post reported that Maldonado-Erazo was a heavy drinker, who often whipped Orlin and his three cousins, but according to the little boy’s autopsy, Orlin was abused the most.

The child later died at the hospital after someone called 911 to report that he was in cardiac arrest. On the day of Orlin’s death, his uncle called Hernandez Reyes and told her that her son was ill after he had dropped a 12-pack of soda on the boy by accident, and that Orlin had been bitten by bugs.

Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said the boy suffered at least 17 strikes to the head, extensive bruising, intentional burns, a broken collarbone, a transected pancreas caused by blunt-force trauma, and several broken ribs, one of which was completely detached from his spine.

Before his arrest in connection with his nephew’s death, Maldonado-Erazo reportedly had no criminal history in the United States aside from illegally entering the country. He is now charged with manslaughter.

ICE has lodged an immigration detainer against him with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and said it intends to remove him if he is released from custody.

“This crime is absolutely sickening,” said ICE Director Todd M. Lyons. “This little boy suffered extensively and died when his mother abandoned him to Maldonado-Erazo’s ‘care’ — and Maldonado-Erazo himself is an illegal alien who never should’ve been in this country in the first place.”

Lyons added, “I encourage parents to self-deport with their children, but even if they choose not to do that, ICE gives them the opportunity to be removed with their kids. But despite that option, Reyes chose to leave her son here with a violent murderer who took his life.”

ICE encountered Maldonado-Erazo on March 5 at the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Jail in Florida following his arrest. Authorities said he illegally entered the United States in August 2021 during the Biden administration and was later released into the country with his daughter, a Honduran national.

Maldonado-Erazo’s wife has also been taken into custody, while their three children, two of whom are U.S. citizens, are currently in the custody of the Florida Department of Child Services.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched by the owner of Latino Media Gulf Coast, Grace Resendez McCaffery, to help send the little boy’s remains to his mother in Honduras. “With the help of a caring and experienced organization that helps Honduran nationals in the U.S., we are working to get Baby Orlin’s body to his mother, Wendy. Please help,” McCaffery said.