ICE Detains Illegal Migrant Who Killed Two Americans After 2015 Release

migrant
Fox 5
Neil Munro

Immigration officers have arrested an illegal migrant who killed two Americans in a December 2017 auto accident after Maryland’s Montgomery Country had let the migrant escape deportation two years earlier.

The Washington Post reported:

Roberto Garza Palacios, 28, was taken into custody at his residence, said Justine Whelan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He had been living in a two-story Gaithersburg home in the 400 block of Belle Grove Road, according to court records and residents of the house.

Garza Palacios, a native of Guatemala, is “unlawfully present” in the United States, Whelan said. He was charged with overstaying and violating the terms of a work visa that had expired in 2009, Whelan said.

His status in U.S. Immigration Court could not be immediately learned. The arrest follows an effort by ICE nearly three years ago to take Garza Palacios into custody in Montgomery County. In August 2015, ICE learned he had been arrested, and asked Montgomery jail officials to place a hold on him. The request was not honored, and Garza Palacios was released, county and federal officials said.

The two Americans were killed when Palacios hit them late at night on the 270 Highway north of Washington D.C.

FBI agent Carlos Wolff had stopped his auto to help Sander Cohen, an arson investigator. But both were killed when Palacios hit them at high speed.

Palacios was cited for negligent driving. According to Fox 5:

Investigators said Palacios was driving his Honda Accord in the left lane and attempted to get over to the right lane but was blocked by traffic. Palacios then swerved to the left of the two vehicles and struck Wolff and Cohen, who were both thrown over the median, according to police. Before being hit, Wolff had been involved in a crash on southbound I-270 and Cohen stopped to help him on the side of the road.

Palacios remained at the scene and investigators determined alcohol, drugs and speed were not factors in the crash. Palacios met with state police in Rockville in April and was issued a citation for negligent driving.

Two years earlier, Palacios had been detained on evidence that he smashed windows at a construction site. He was released back into the population of roughly 11 million illegals by the Democratic-run county government, despite a detainer request from ICE.

The director of the Montgomery County’s Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, Robert Green, told the Washington Post that Palacios was released in 2015 because of instructions from the state Attorney General.

In 2015, Maryland’s Attorney General was Brian Frosh, a Democrat who still holds the office.

After he was released in 2015, Palacios helped lower wages for Americans by working as a construction worker and as a landscaper until his arrest by ICE.

Read the Washington Post article here.

 

 

 

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