Illinois released an undocumented immigrant convicted of killing a US Marine Corps veteran in a drunk-driving crash—four years before his scheduled release date, according to Department of Homeland Security officials.
Vicente Torres-Vasquez, a Mexican national, received an 18-year prison sentence in 2012 after pleading guilty to killing 55-year-old Marine veteran Gregory Errol Homola and injuring two women, including one who was pregnant, The Daily Herald reported at the time.
His blood alcohol concentration measured 0.28%, more than three times the legal limit.
Illinois released Torres-Vasquez on parole Nov. 2, four years before his scheduled release date, DHS officials said.
Authorities in the sanctuary state also failed to honor an ICE detainer issued ahead of his release. Torres-Vasquez, who had previously been arrested four times for drunk driving, was therefore allowed to leave prison, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said.
“When ICE lodged a detainer ahead of his release on parole, sanctuary politicians in J.B. Pritzker’s Illinois refused to cooperate with us and released him without notifying ICE,” Mullin said in a statement.
Immigration agents tracked Torres-Vasquez down and took him into custody a little more than a week later, on Wednesday.
“Thankfully, the brave patriots of ICE managed to arrest this killer anyway, and he will now be deported from our country,” Mullin said.
“These heartless sanctuary politicians need to stop prioritizing political power over the safety of their constituents. They owe it to the Angel Families to work with us so that we can prevent any more American lives from being lost to illegal alien crime.”
Torres-Vasquez was convicted of aggravated driving under the influence resulting in the death of another person, along with two counts of aggravated driving under the influence resulting in great bodily injury.
He entered the US illegally at least three times in the mid-2000s and received a final order of removal in November 2010—months before the July 24, 2011, crash.
According to DHS, ICE lodged a detainer with the Illinois River Correctional Center in Canton in January 2017.
Torres-Vasquez was transferred in March to Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill ahead of his expected parole date.
ICE filed another detainer at Stateville, but the facility declined to honor it and released him without notifying federal immigration officials.