ICE’s new poster guy

Former Uber driver Luis Baez is due back in court in June to answer to charges that he raped a female passenger last September when he was working for the ride-hailing service. The odds the defendant, also known as Pedro Valentin, will show up at the courthouse?

“I sincerely doubt he is going to come back to court,” a federal immigration official told a Herald reporter this week. “He’s probably on the run.”

Such speculation seems warranted given that Baez is a previously deported immigrant who had been sent back to his native Dominican Republic — seven years ago.

So if he’s facing such serious charges now, and has displayed a previous disregard for following the nation’s immigration laws, how is it that Baez got himself turned loose on Tuesday?

A combination of factors, it seems — among them that Baez managed to make his very low bail (set at $2,500) before Immigration and Customs Enforcement had filed a detainer asking that he be held for potential immigration enforcement proceedings.

Yes, it’s true such detainers are the subject of a legal challenge pending before the state’s highest court. But at the moment, there is nothing preventing local authorities from cooperating with ICE to ensure that accused criminals who may be in the country illegally don’t walk away with little more than a smile and a promise that they’ll be back to face justice.

Well, nothing except questionable decisions on bail — and the determined efforts of those whose dream is to turn every jurisdiction in the commonwealth into a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants.