ICE Blasts Sanctuary City Policy after MS-13 Gang Member Deported 10 Times Kills Girlfriend, Self
Dangerous California sanctuary policy leaves 3 victims in wake of fatal shooting
Suspected gunman a convicted criminal alien, repeat immigration violator
LOS ANGELES — Herbert Nixon Flores, a 46-year-old From ICE
criminal alien with an extensive criminal history, is the prime suspect in the murder of 35-year-old Karen Ruiz in the Pacoima area, Jan. 6. Flores shot and killed himself according to law enforcement officials days later. Flores, a repeat immigration offender, had been sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers for removal, but a detainer issued to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) last Fall was not honored due to California’s dangerous sanctuary policy.
“We offer our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Karen Ruiz, who was senselessly killed last week near her 3-year-old daughter,” said ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Los Angeles Acting Field Office Director Andre Quinones. “Like so many other tragedies, this case illustrates the threat posed by the egregious and often recidivist criminal offenders our agency identifies, targets, and seeks to apprehend and remove, and is another example of how California’s sanctuary policies lead to violence against innocent victims while protecting illegal aliens who have no authority to be in our country.”
Flores was an illegally present Salvadoran national with a criminal history and convictions spanning more than 30 years. Since 1990, he had been ordered removed and physically deported from the United States 10 times. His criminal history included carrying a concealed weapon, trespassing, burglary, disturbing the peace, possession and transportation of a controlled substance, impersonation, driving under the influence, driving without a license, driving with a suspended license, resisting arrest, vandalism, criminal threats and illegal entry.
On Sept. 7, Flores was arrested for a domestic violence with injury charge by the LAPD. The next day, ICE lodged an immigration detainer with the LAPD which chose to not honor the detainer and instead released Flores back into the community.
“This horrific act of violence that has now claimed two lives and left a child without her mother might have been avoided if the suspect had been handed over to our officers months ago,” said Quinones.
“Cases like this demonstrate how critical it is for state and federal law enforcement agencies to work together and focus all available resources against those who break the law. As such, ICE will continue to seek proactive and effective ways to work with law enforcement partners in our shared commitment to public safety.”
In accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act(INA), illegal re-entry after removal is a federal criminal charge, and violators are subject to imprisonment if convicted. A person who is ordered removed, is physically removed, and thereafter illegally reenters, can be subject to reinstatement of the previous removal order.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) relies on the exchange of information with its law enforcement agency (LEA) partners to access foreign-born inmates at local, state, and federal facilities, and the use of detainers (Form l-247A) as part of its public safety mission. In many cases, these individuals pose a demonstrable threat to communities.
By lodging detainers against those individuals, ICE makes every effort to ensure that removable aliens are turned over to ICE custody at the conclusion of their criminal detention rather than being released into the community where many abscond or reoffend. For example, we know that one group of criminal aliens that ICE has researched has a recidivism rate of 46%.
An ICE detainer requests that the receiving LEA do the following:
- Notify ICE as early as practicable (at least 48 hours in advance, if possible) before the alien is released from custody;
- Maintain custody of the alien for a period not to exceed 48 hours beyond the time he/she would have otherwise been released to allow ICE to assume custody;
When jurisdictions fail to honor an ICE detainer, it risks both public and officer safety, and unnecessarily expends ICE’s already-limited resources.
- In some cases, state or local laws, ordinances, or policies restrict or prohibit cooperation with ICE.
- In other cases, jurisdictions willfully decline ICE detainers, and refuse to even provide timely notification to ICE of an alien’s release.
- The results are the same: aliens are released into the community where they may potentially reoffend and harm members of the public.
Above is just a small sample of the types of individuals that are being released into your community and other jurisdictions that do not honor ICE detainers every day. These are dangerous, criminal aliens illegally present in the United States that local jurisdictions have deemed important enough to arrest and prosecute for their crimes. Yet, these same jurisdictions are preventing ICE’s lawful, Congressionally-mandated enforcement efforts to enforce the laws its officers and agents are sworn to uphold, against the exact same criminals. Instead of enforcement actions taking place within the safe confines of local jails, ICE is forced to increase its presence in corresponding communities as a result of these sanctuary policies.
In fiscal year 2020, ICE continued to focus its enforcement efforts and resources on aliens who pose a threat to public safety and national security. ICE’s ERO conducted 103,603 arrests – approximately 90% of those arrested had a criminal conviction or charge including 1,837 homicide offenses, 37,247 assault offenses and 10,302 sexual assault or sex offenses.