ICE detainer issued for illegal immigrant charged with homicide in New York

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Saturday that federal agents have arrested a criminal illegal immigrant accused of homicide and robbery after allegedly strangling a New York taxi driver to death earlier this month.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has filed a case against Santos Paulino Vasquez-Ramirez, an illegal migrant from Guatemala accused of the brutal murder of a taxi driver during a fare dispute on December 1 in Brewster, New York.

The body of the victim, Aurelio Zhunio-Orbez, was found floating in a local reservoir on December 7, according to DHS.

“Santos Vasquez Ramirez should never have been in our country in the first place and provided the opportunity to horribly kill Aurelio Zhunio-Orbez,” DHS Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

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Santos Paulino Vasquez-Ramirez was arrested and charged with murder and robbery on December 12. (Putnam County Sheriff’s Office)

Vasquez-Ramirez entered the country illegally in 2013, DHS said, and was later released into the country during the Obama administration.

An immigration judge issued him a final deportation order in early 2016.

“Open border policies have deadly consequences,” McLaughlin said, adding that Santos Vasquez Ramirez will be transferred to federal custody. “ICE has filed an arrest request with local authorities to ensure this criminal illegal alien is never allowed back into America’s neighborhoods.”

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Aurelio Zhunio-Orbez, 66, of Danbury, Connecticut, was found dead in Croton Falls Reservoir on December 7. (Department of Homeland Security)

McLaughlin added that under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, “ICE is targeting the worst of the worst.”

In a year-end report released Friday, DHS said more than 2.5 million illegal immigrants have left the United States since President Donald Trump returned to office this year, creating “the most secure border in American history.”

ICE has filed an arrest request for Santos Paulino Vasquez-Ramirez, an illegal migrant from Guatemala accused of killing a taxi driver during a fare dispute Dec. 1 in Brewster, New York. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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An estimated 1.9 million migrants have been self-expelled and more than 622,000 forced to leave since Trump took office on Jan. 20, according to DHS.

DHS did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.