An illegal immigrant from Colombia killed a motorist in Southern California during a police chase last month, according to authorities.
Darwin Felipe Bahamon Martinez, 21, was apprehended entering the United States near San Diego in 2023 and released by the Biden administration, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
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“Bahamon Martinez illegally entered the U.S. near Chula Vista, California, in August 2023,” a statement from ICE Los Angeles field office leadership said.
“He was released into the U.S. under the Biden administration’s so-called ‘catch-and-release’ policies, but if that hadn’t happened, the innocent 59-year-old driver he allegedly killed may still be alive today.”
Martinez was driving a Jeep Gladiator in Anaheim on January 21 when police stopped him for reckless driving. When officers approached the Jeep on foot, Martinez sped away, according to authorities.
A brief chase ensued before the Jeep collided with a Honda driven by a 59-year-old man in the nearby city of Placentia.
The driver was pronounced deceased at the scene of the site.
Another driver, an 83-year-old woman, was transported to the hospital and treated for minor injuries.
Bahamon Martinez is being held in the Orange County Jail while awaiting criminal procedures on a homicide charge. ICE issued an immigration detainer against him on January 22.
However, because of California’s sanctuary state legislation, local officials are not required to help with ICE in transferring illegal aliens charged or convicted of crimes to federal detention.
“If local officials in Gavin Newsom’s sanctuary California choose to release Bahamon Martinez into the community, they will put ALL Californians at risk,” ICE said in a news release. “California must honor our immigration detainer. Otherwise, ICE will be forced to re-arrest this criminal illegal alien at-large.”
ICE personnel often enter communities with sanctuary laws to search for illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. The agency has urged for increased cooperation with local authorities in the wake of confrontations between federal officers and agitators in Minnesota, where local politicians have accused ICE of terrorizing neighborhoods.
Sanctuary laws, according to critics, are responsible for releasing dangerous criminals back into society.
