DHS Says New Jersey Rock‑Throwing School‑Bus Suspect Is Unlawfully Present Mexican National

New Jersey State Police say 40‑year‑old Hernando Garcia‑Morales of Palisades Park was arrested Jan. 9 after a baseball‑sized rock smashed through a northbound New Jersey Turnpike school‑bus window on Jan. 7, fracturing an 8‑year‑old girl’s skull as her Yeshivat Noam third‑grade class returned from a Liberty Science Center field trip. He faces multiple state charges, including aggravated assault, resisting arrest and weapons counts from Turnpike troopers, plus additional aggravated‑assault, criminal‑trespass and criminal‑mischief charges from Bogota police tied to other alleged incidents. DHS told Fox News it has lodged an ICE detainer, asserts Garcia‑Morales is a Mexican national in the U.S. illegally with a two‑decade record that includes a 2006 weapons/theft arrest and downgraded 2023 Hackensack burglary‑related charges, and blames New Jersey’s sanctuary policies for his continued presence in the community. School officials say police told them he confessed to the Turnpike rock attack and "several other" rock‑throwing incidents. The case is being seized on by federal officials as evidence in the national fight over state non‑cooperation with ICE, while civil‑liberties advocates online are warning against tarring entire immigrant communities based on one serious but still‑unadjudicated allegation.