When local police are after the same person as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, conflict can arise. It's an issue likely to come up more often as ICE steps up arrests and deportations, and one that has come into the spotlight in Alexandria as a criminal case moves through the courts.
Inside St. Rita's Catholic church, what’s known as a poor box and candle box are used to collect donations.
Patrons can drop cash into the boxes, which is sometimes wedged into church walls among the stones and cement. Those donations are then given to those who need help.
But visitors to the church on Russell Road in Alexandria since mid-January haven't seen a box -- they've seen a QR code. That's because, on Jan. 19, the box and the pedestal it stood on were stolen.
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"It's certainly a shock on some level, because that money is there to help the poor," said Father Christopher Christensen, the church's priest. "To have someone come and steal it is strange."
Days after the first box disappeared, other items went missing: another poor box and two candle boxes, also containing money, were torn out of the wall and stolen.
Christensen sent an email to parishioners, letting them know police had been notified and warning anyone who donated checks to contact their bank.
"Mostly they all just kind of recognized this is kind of a sad situation that someone has to resort to that in the first place," Christensen said.
Security camera video helped Alexandria police quickly develop a suspect, who they identified as 22-year-old Carlos Alvarenga Hidalgo.
But when those officers got ready to serve warrants on five charges, including three felonies, they learned Alvarenga Hidalgo was in ICE custody, being held in the Farmville Detention Center.
On Jan. 27, one week after the church burglaries began, Alvarenga Hidalgo was arrested by Alexandria police on a prior failure to appear charge.
Court records reveal he hadn't shown up to face a misdemeanor charge of stealing food from a restaurant. They also reveal that Alvarenga Hidalgo told the court he’d arrived in the U.S. from El Salvador as a teenager, was living with his aunt, and had a drug problem that he wanted to overcome.
At the jail, Alvarenga Hidalgo’s fingerprints were entered into a data base shared with federal authorities, an Alexandria Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman says. The next day, ICE came to the jail and picked him up.
On Jan. 29, Alexandria police had their warrants ready, but by that time, Alvarenga Hidalgo was already in Farmville.
Christensen is relieved he is in custody and can't strike again.
"I was kind of happy it was taken care of," Christensen said.
But despite being in ICE custody now, a court order sought by the Alexandria commonwealth's attorney means Alvarenga Hidalgo will be returning to Northern Virginia to face the local charges -- old and new -- first.
Once the local cases are resolved, Alvarenga Hidalgo will be turned back over to ICE.
Meanwhile, at St. Rita's Catholic Church, the hundreds of dollars stolen have been replenished.
"We’ve had a few generous parishioners who’ve reached out and said, 'Father, we want to make sure what was lost was covered,'" Christensen said.
News4 has contacted ICE to find out why the agency arrested Alvarenga Hidalgo and whether ICE intends to deport him. The agency has not yet responded.
