An illegal immigrant arrested Sunday in Northern Virginia for allegedly stealing a woman's car and then killing her with it has been given a driver's license by California.
Jose Aguilar Martinez is accused of stealing the car of Melody Waldecker, a 54-year-old mother of eight grandchildren, as she walked into a 7-Eleven in Sterling, Virginia, before running over and killing her when she tried to stop him. according to NBC 4. Aguilar Martinez is a Salvadoran national of no fixed address, but had a California driver's license before his alleged involvement in the deadly carjacking. according to Press release from the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. (Related article: Illegal immigrant arrested after giving birth in taco truck and dumping baby in trash)
“This is a horrific tragedy and we mourn the death of Melody Waldecker, the result of the heinous acts of an individual who allegedly entered our country illegally,” Sheriff Mike Chapman said in a statement Wednesday. “This is another reminder of why it is essential that local authorities cooperate with federal authorities responsible for enforcing our nation's immigration laws.”
Police tape at the scene of a car crash in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. [Wikimedia Commons/Public/Tony Webster, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Salvadoran national was charged Tuesday with vehicle burglary and Loudoun County prosecutors plan to file more charges, according to the sheriff's office. He is being held in county custody without bail.
Aguilar-Martinez entered the United States illegally at an unknown date and location, ICE confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation. ICE filed an immigration detention order for the 21-year-old Salvadoran national with the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center on Monday, requesting that he ultimately be transferred to deportation officers.
The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office stressed Wednesday that it “practically” cooperates with federal immigration authorities, all but ensuring that authorities will honor the detention request for Aguilar-Martinez. According to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, to date in fiscal year 2023, ICE has issued detention orders for 479 aliens arrested for criminal offenses in Loudoun County and has deported about 100 of them. (RELATED: Harris' San Francisco DA's Office Received Millions of 'Improper' Federal Funding for Border-Related Crimes)
California has been issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants since January 2015. according to National Conference of State Legislatures. A total of 19 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws allowing aliens residing in the country illegally to obtain driver's licenses.
California Governor Gavin Newsom Doubled In a new development in state policy, President Donald Trump signed AB 1766, the “CA ID for All” bill, which allows illegal immigrants without driver's licenses to obtain identification documents, into law in 2022.
Issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants remains a controversial issue: When New York's “Green Light” law went into effect in 2019, allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, many county clerks said they would refuse to comply, citing safety concerns.
Then-Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf in 2020 ordered the Department of Homeland Security to conduct a major review of state laws that allow immigrants to obtain licenses.
“Laws like New York's Green Light Law have dangerous consequences that reach far beyond the DMV,” a Homeland Security spokesperson said at the time of Wolf's order. “Laws like this make it easier for terrorists and criminals to obtain counterfeit documents and deny Homeland Security investigators access to critical records that could help them bust child pornography and human trafficking rings and combat everything from terrorism to drug smuggling.”
The California Governor's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
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