A 27-year-old Mexican national accused of using a sledgehammer to damage the Iwo Jima statue at Marine Corps Base Quantico is living in the United States unlawfully, Fox News has reported.
Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano, of Stafford, Virginia, was detained at the scene after police said they found him attacking the monument near Richmond Highway and Fuller Road at about 10.13pm on Wednesday, 21 October.
The assault left one of the depicted Marines without a head and caused further damage to the limestone memorial. Prince William County Police estimated the cost of repairs at hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Police said officers quickly restrained Maldonado Soriano without incident. He has been charged with felony destruction of property, trespass with intent to damage property and felony injury to a monument.
He is being held without bond and a court date has not yet been set. Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive.
Fox News congressional correspondent Bill Melugin, citing multiple federal sources, reported that Maldonado Soriano is a Mexican national who entered the US illegally in December 1999.
The sources said he had previously been protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, known as DACA, after receiving approval in 2014 and several extensions, including one granted by the Biden administration in 2024.
His DACA status expired in August after it was not renewed by the Trump administration, according to the report.
The damaged monument is a smaller replica of the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, which depicts six Marines raising the American flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during the Second World War.
It stands near the entrance to the National Museum of the Marine Corps and was sculpted from limestone by Felix de Weldon, who also created the much larger bronze memorial in Arlington.
