An illegal immigrant who killed a nun and injured two others in a drunken driving crash last August was only 18 days away from his long-delayed deportation hearing at the time of the crash, according to a Homeland Security report.
Carlos Martinelly-Montano, who was charged with drunken driving for his involvement with the crash, also had had two run-ins with police in Fairfax County and Manassas before the crash occurred, in addition to two previously known DUI convictions, the report said.
The report, released late Thursday to Judicial Watch, details the Department of Homeland Security’s investigation into the agency’s handling of Martinelly-Montano after Prince William County Police turned him over to federal authorities for deportation. Prince William County officials have been pressing federal officials to explain why Martinelly-Montano had been released into the community and not deported.
According to the report, the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review repeatedly delayed Martinelly-Montano’s deportation hearing since May 2009. And rather than detain him after the second DUI conviction in October 2008, Martinelly-Montano was released back into the community under ICE supervision. Martinelly-Montano had two more run-ins with the law while he was under ICE supervision, but ICE was never informed about those, the report says.
With changes the agency has made since 2008, had he been turned over to ICE today, Martinelly-Montano likely would have been detained, namely because he was a convict, a repeat offender and was a danger to public safety, the report said.
Officials at Judicial Watch, a conservative political watchdog, received the report after DHS officials previously said the report was in draft form and could not be released.
It’s still unclear why DHS officials chose to turn over the report at this time after denying their availability before, a spokeswoman for Judicial Watch said.
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors sued DHS on Tuesday for a copy of the report.
