Sledgehammer-wielding illegal immigrant sought by ICE after alleged blue city murder
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has asked officials in Democratic-run Harris County not to release a sledgehammer-wielding illegal immigrant from custody after he allegedly beat a coworker to death...
By Fox News · Fox News
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has asked officials in Democratic-run Harris County not to release a sledgehammer-wielding illegal immigrant from custody after he allegedly beat a coworker to death on a construction site in a suburb of Texas’ largest city, Houston. This comes as Texas officials feud with the City of Houston over a new policy limiting law enforcement cooperation with ICE. The confrontation mirrors the broader national debate between Democrats and Republicans over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies. Disagreements over immigration enforcement have resulted in an ongoing lapse in funding for the Department of Homeland Security during a partial government shutdown. Now, Venezuelan national Josue Abraham Chirino-Leonice has been charged with the murder of carpenter Juan Antonio Salinas Leija at a north Houston home earlier this month, according to reporting by local outlet KHOU-11. The outlet said Salinas Leija was found dead at a home under renovation with severe wounds consistent with a sledgehammer attack. Chirino-Leonice was later arrested driving the victim’s truck in east Houston. ICE lodged a detainer — a request to hold — with the Harris County Jail last week. According to DHS, Chirino-Leonice was released into the country under Biden administration in 2023. DHS SLAMS CALIFORNIA 'SANCTUARY' COUNTY AFTER MOM ALLEGEDLY MURDERED BY 2 HONDURAN NATIONALS DHS said U.S. Border Patrol first arrested Chirino-Leonice in November 2023. The agency said the Biden administration "subsequently released him into the interior of the country." Gabriel Martinez, acting field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston, called the alleged murder a savage attack by an illegal alien "who never should have been allowed into the country." "This criminal illegal alien — who never should have been allowed into the country in the first place — is accused of savagely beating a co-worker to death with a sledgeh…