ICE detainer issued for illegal immigrant charged with homicide in New York

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Saturday that federal agents issued an arrest detainer for a criminal illegal immigrant charged with homicide and robbery after allegedly strangling a New York taxi driver to death earlier this month.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged the detainer for Santos Paulino Vasquez-Ramirez, an illegal migrant from Guatemala accused of brutally murdering a cab operator during a fare dispute Dec. 1 in Brewster, New York.

The body of the victim, Aurelio Zhunio-Orbez, was found floating in a local reservoir Dec. 7, according to DHS.

“Santos Vasquez Ramirez should’ve never been in our country in the first place and provided the opportunity to gruesomely take the life of Aurelio Zhunio-Orbez,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

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Vasquez-Ramirez illegally entered the country in 2013, DHS said, and was later released into the country under the Obama administration.

An immigration judge issued him a final order of removal in early 2016.

“Open border policies have deadly consequences,” McLaughlin said, adding that Santos Vasquez Ramirez will be transferred to federal custody. “ICE lodged an arrest detainer with local authorities to ensure this criminal illegal alien is never allowed back into American neighborhoods.”

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McLaughlin added that, under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, “ICE is targeting the worst of the worst.”

In a year-end report released Friday, the DHS said more than 2.5 million illegal immigrants have left the U.S. since President Donald Trump returned to office this year, leading to the “most secure border in American history.”

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An estimated 1.9 million migrants have been self-deported, and more than 622,000 have been forced out since Trump took office Jan. 20, according to DHS.

DHS did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.