Ungrateful: DHS Says Iwo Jima Statue Suspect Is a Former DACA Recipient

The man charged with damaging an Iwo Jima monument near Marine Corps Base Quantico is a Mexican national and former DACA recipient, the Department of Homeland Security said Friday.

Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano, 27, of Stafford, Virginia, is charged with felony destruction of property, trespass with intent to damage property and felony injury to a monument.

Prince William County police responded at about 10:13 p.m. Wednesday and found him striking the limestone sculpture with a sledgehammer, Fox News reported. The head of one Marine figure had been removed.

Police said other figures were also damaged and estimated repairs would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The 9-foot statue depicts the 1945 flag-raising on Mount Suribachi. It was sculpted by Felix de Weldon, who later created the bronze Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington.

DACA Status Expired

DHS said Maldonado Soriano entered the country illegally in 1999 and was granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in October 2014. It said the status was renewed under the Biden administration and “has since expired.”

Federal sources told Fox News his DACA status lapsed in August 2026 after it was not renewed. DHS also cited a 2022 trespassing arrest in Stafford County.

“He had been granted DACA by the Obama Administration. Criminals like this who clearly hate America have no business being in our country,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, the Washington Times reported.

“We must never allow the history of our great nation to be torn down by illegal aliens who have zero respect for our country and our values,” Mullin added.

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News, “This criminal illegal alien’s dream is over: Maldonado Soriano disrespected our brave service members and defaced a beautiful monument that honored their sacrifice.”

Bail remains in dispute. A magistrate ordered him held without bond, but a General District Court judge later granted cashless bail and then stayed that order after prosecutors objected, Potomac Local reported.

On Friday, retired Circuit Court Judge Craig D. Johnston continued the bond-appeal hearing to Monday at 9:30 a.m. after defense attorney Barry Zweig said his client had not been notified of the date.

Johnston ordered Maldonado Soriano held until that hearing. Unless the Circuit Court reverses the cashless bail order, he would be released afterward, according to Potomac Local.

Rep. John McGuire, R-Va., said on X that he was “disgusted” as “the grandson of a veteran who fought at the Battle of Iwo Jima” and called for prosecution “to the fullest extent of the law.”

Portions of the base were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 as the Quantico Marine Corps Base Historic District, Fox News reported.

Authorities have not publicly described a motive. The statue stands near the entrance to the base, close to the National Museum of the Marine Corps, FOX 5 DC reported.

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