Federal immigration authorities have lodged a detainer on an 18-year-old Salvadoran national charged with murder in connection with two separate fatal shootings in Houston. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Friday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had asked Texas officials not to release the suspect without first notifying the agency.
Jefferson Adonay Velasquez-Torres was charged this week with murder for an April 27 shooting outside a Houston nightclub in which Noah Ramirez, 27, was killed. Two others were injured in that shooting, according to Fox News, citing a report from affiliate FOX 26 Houston.
Velasquez-Torres had also been charged in June with murder for his alleged involvement in a separate shooting at a Houston house party last August. That shooting killed Angel Garcia, 17. A second suspect, Enrique Aguilar, 19, was also arrested in connection with Garcia's death.
In addition to the two murder charges, Velasquez-Torres faces charges of unlawfully carrying a weapon and aggravated robbery. He is currently being held in the Harris County Jail after being denied bond on charges related to the second shooting.
Velasquez-Torres entered the United States illegally as a minor in 2014 and was released into the country. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis addressed the case directly in a public statement. "This criminal illegal alien has been charged with TWO counts of murder after two fatal shootings in Houston," Bis said. She continued, "He would not be in our country if it weren't for the reckless open-border policies of the Obama Administration. ICE asked officials in Texas to not release this heinous murderer from jail without notifying ICE. Thankfully, Texas cooperates with us and together we will ensure this public safety threat will never be loose on our streets."
The ICE detainer is a formal request that local or state authorities hold a person in custody and notify the agency before releasing them, allowing ICE time to take the individual into federal custody. Texas has maintained a policy of cooperating with federal immigration detainer requests, which federal officials noted in the Velasquez-Torres case.
His entry into the country occurred during former President Barack Obama's second term, a detail that Homeland Security officials have emphasized in their public statements about the case.