In a case that eerily echoes a
San Francisco woman's slaying by a criminal illegal immigrant, authorities have reportedly charged an undocumented Mexican national with a deadly crime spree three weeks after he was stopped and released by Ohio sheriffs.
Juan Emmanuel Razo-Ramirez, 35, is accused of attempting to rape a 14-year-old girl, shooting a woman in the arm, and killing another woman, Margaret Kostelnik, 60, in her home before getting into a shootout with Lake County, Ohio, police Monday,
according to the Daily Caller.
Razo-Ramirez, who has no criminal record, was stopped July 7 by Lake County sheriff's officials, who released him after speaking with federal immigration officials.
At the suspect's arraignment, an angry Painesville, Ohio, Municipal Judge Mike Cicconetti set bail at $10 million,
according to the Los Angeles Times.
"He's here illegally? And they didn't take him? ... I can't set a bond high enough," he said.
But Ohio Sheriff Daniel Dunlap is laying the blame on federal immigration agencies and policies.
"The fact is current rules and regulations are making it extremely difficult for any police officer on the street to know which laws they can or cannot enforce in the area of undocumented persons," Dunlap said Friday, the Daily Caller reports.
Dunlap said his deputies were told not to detain Razo-Ramirez; Department of Homeland Security said the local deputies declined an offer for federal agents to interview Razo-Ramirez in person, the Daily Caller reports.
"Although the agents offered to meet with the deputies on site and interview the subject in person, the offer was declined and the subject was released,” a DHS spokeswoman told the Daily Caller.
Dunlap disputes that, according to the Daily Caller.
According to Dunlap, deputies approached Razo-Ramirez on July 7 after noting he was "extremely nervous, sweating profusely, and making every attempt to avoid eye contact."
Dunlap said Razo-Ramirez provided a false name, but admitted to being in the country illegally. And though Razo-Ramirez had no criminal record, "his behavior alone would have in other circumstances been considered probable cause to detain Razo for further investigation," Dunlap said.
Deputies contacted Border Patrol and explained the situation, and two agents spoke with Razo-Ramirez, who became "less and less communicative" and wouldn't admit to be an illegal alien, Dunlap said.
He said deputies then requested Border Patrol to issue a detainer authorizing them to keep Razo-Ramirez in custody — but were denied.
"The deputies explained that the Sheriff’s Office could not further detain Razo legally without authorization from immigration authorities," Dunlap said."
"Until recently detainers were routinely issued when requested," Dunlap said, adding the sheriff's department also provided Razo-Ramirez’s name and address to Border Patrol, but that the agency never acted on it.
"Why this information was never followed up on by Border Patrol agents is something for them to answer," the sheriff said, noting it "took two days to finally receive confirmation of [Razo-Ramirez's] illegal status" from DHS after Dunlap's office contacted the federal agency.
In the San Francisco case, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, 45, allegedly admitted shooting 32-year-old Kate Steinle on July 1 — after having been freed by the San Francisco sheriff’s department in April despite a detainer request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The sheriff and other city officials in San Francisco, a so-called sanctuary city that has policies preventing agencies from cooperating with federal immigration agencies, have blamed ICE for failing to do enough to gain custody of Lopez-Sanchez when he was in federal prison.
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