Illegal immigrants have taken advantage of the Biden-Harris administration’s lax southern border to victimize innocent Americans, causing alarm in communities across the country.
Police and prosecutors worked together to set an example by arresting or convicting these migrants for violent crimes in 2024.
1. Guatemalan immigrant accused of setting woman on fire in NYC subway
Sebastian Zapeta, a previously deported Guatemalan immigrant, was charged with one count of first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder, and one count of arson after a woman was set ablaze and burned to death on a subway train in Brooklyn, New York on December 22.
Surveillance video showed the suspect, believed to be Zapeta, approaching the woman, who was motionless and possibly sleeping aboard a F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station.
Then she was set afire.
“As the train pulled into the station, the suspect calmly walked up to the victim,” New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a press conference, adding that the female victim was sitting. “The suspect used what we believe to be a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds.”
Zapeta was apprehended by Border Patrol and deported by the Trump administration on June 7, 2018, after crossing illegally into Sonoita, Arizona, the week before, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson Jeff Carter told Fox News. Carter stated that Zapeta later illegally reentered the United States on an unknown date and location.
2. Venezuelan migrant Jose Ibarra sentenced in Laken Riley’s murder
In November, a Georgia judge convicted and sentenced Jose Ibarra, the suspect charged with murdering Augusta University student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus in February.
Judge Patrick Haggard of Athens-Clarke County Superior Court convicted Ibarra of ten counts, including one count of malice murder, three counts of felony murder, one count of kidnapping, one count of aggravated assault with intent to rape, one count of aggravated battery, one count of hindering a 911 call, one count of tampering with evidence, and one count of being a “peeping Tom.”
Ibarra pleaded not guilty on all counts.
Prosecutors say Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela, attacked and killed Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, while she was jogging along trails near Lake Herrick on the University of Georgia campus in Athens on February 22.
3. Mexican citizen arrested for girlfriend’s murder after removal from US
Brandon Ortiz-Vite, who was deported to Mexico in 2020, was arrested on murder charges in March for the death of a Michigan woman after allegedly reentering the United States illegally.
Ortiz-Vite, who is being held in the Kent County, Michigan, jail, is charged with felony murder, open murder, carjacking, carrying a concealed weapon, and felony use of a firearm after the body of Ruby Garcia, 25, was discovered on U.S. 131 in downtown Grand Rapids.
According to police, the two were in a romantic relationship at the time of the killing.
Ortiz-Vite, 25, was arrested by Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Detroit on August 31, 2020, and issued a notice to appear.
An immigration judge from the Justice Department’s Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) ordered his removal on September 24, 2020, and he was deported to Mexico on September 29, 2020, according to an ICE spokesperson.
“On an unknown date and location, Ortiz-Vite re-entered the United States without being inspected by an immigration official.
“On Mar. 24, 2024, ERO Detroit encountered Ortiz-Vite pursuant to him being arrested by the Michigan State Police and charged him with murder and other crimes,” a spokesperson explained. “ERO Detroit lodged a detainer with the Kent County Jail for Ortiz-Vite.”
4. Honduran national accused of attempted hiking trail rape, sexual assaults
Denis Humberto Naverette Romero, 31, was charged with abduction with intent to defile and rape a stranger he grabbed from a trail, according to a press conference held in November by Virginia’s Herndon Police Department.
On November 24, officers responded to the W&OD Trail for a report of a woman approaching a passerby and asking for help after claiming to have been raped.
The victim told the police. Romero grabbed her, pushed her to the ground, and raped her.
The woman was able to fight off the attacker and flee to seek help. Romero was eventually apprehended by police.
Romero, a Honduran national, has a record of sexual assaults and indecent exposures in the area dating back to 2022, according to Herndon Police Chief Maggie DeBoard.
A source close to the situation told Fox News Digital. Romero is homeless and has been in and out of jail without serving any significant time. Prosecutors have also reduced several charges against him to less serious offenses, according to the source.
5. Migrant wanted for murder in Dominican Republic accused of killing New York family
Julio Cesar Pimentel-Soriano, originally from the Dominican Republic, was arrested in September for allegedly murdering a four-member New York family in their home.
Fraime Ubaldo, 30, Marangely Moreno-Santiago, 26, Evangeline Ubaldo-Moreno, 4, and Sebastian Ubaldo-Moreno, 2, were murdered in their home on August 31, according to an Irondequoit Police Department post on X.
“This was a horrific scene,” Irondequoit Police Chief Scott Peters said during a press conference. “In almost 32 years of doing this job, I haven’t seen anything like it.”
Pimentel-Soriano was arrested by police on September 7.
“It appears Mr. Soriano entered the island of Puerto Rico illegally and obtained fraudulent New York identification,” prosecutors said. “With that identification, he was free to travel from Puerto Rico to the United States mainland.”
According to the department, Pimentel-Soriano was wanted for a 2019 murder in his home country when arrested.
