Guyanese man charged with killing and raping 92-year-old overstayed visa and dodged ICE detainer

But, instead, the city followed Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “sanctuary city” policies for illegal immigrants and released him, ignoring the detainer request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The police said they didn’t get a detainer, a claim ICE rejected.

Exactly 40 days later, according to police, Khan sexually abused Maria Fuertes, 92, in Queens. She later died of her injuries. Court papers cited in media reports said she was sexually assaulted and strangled and died outside in 32-degree weather from injuries that included a broken spine.

Officials said that Khan arrived sometime in 2016 on a B-2 visa that provided a six-month visit “for pleasure.” He entered the United States through John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens.

The city declines thousands of ICE detainers a year as it remains committed to its sanctuary status.

The administration has been critical of New York and de Blasio’s policies in the past, but the murder has prompted a new focus on the city’s policies and a withering attack from immigration officials.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf tweeted, “There has been a complete breakdown of law & order in New York City. NYC proudly passed sanctuary city laws & bragged about it for months. But now they, & more importantly, the citizens of NYC are facing the deadly consequences of the sanctuary policies.”

Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security, tweeted, “A 92-y.o. woman was raped & murdered in New York after NYPD failed to honor an ICE detainer because NYPD refuses to cooperate with ICE. NYPD denied receiving the detainer (though they got one!), but doesn’t honor them anyway! Where’s the media coverage? Where’s the outrage?”

Michael Bars, a DHS spokesman, told Secrets, “Sanctuary cities and counties around the country including those in New York, North Carolina, and elsewhere act as illegal incubators for criminal alien activity, harboring dangerous offenders and often releasing them back to the streets where many will re-offend. These don’t just include drugs and weapons offenses, robbery, sexual assault, kidnapping, and drunk driving charges, but completely preventable acts of brutal rape and murder. These are the deadly consequences when self-serving politicians like the mayor release criminal aliens from custody instead of protecting the very people they’ve sworn an oath to put first.”

ICE’s New York chief for Enforcement and Removal Operations also issued a statement. “It is made clear that New York City’s stance against honoring detainers is dangerously flawed. It was a deadly choice to release a man on an active ICE detainer back onto the streets after his first arrest included assault and weapon charges, and he now faces new charges, including murder,” said Thomas Decker, field office director for ERO New York. “New York City’s sanctuary policies continue to threaten the safety of all residents of the five boroughs, as they repeatedly protect criminal aliens who show little regard for the laws of this nation,” he said.

Decker also pointed his finger at de Blasio. “Politicians care more about criminal illegal aliens than the citizens they are elected to serve and protect,” he said.

And so did immigration expert Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, who said New York City police want to cooperate with ICE but can’t.

“In this case, ICE did actually find out about him, since he was arrested and jailed, but because of New York’s extreme sanctuary policies, the police and other authorities ignored and thwarted ICE’s effort. New York cops want people like Khan off the streets and into ICE hands, knowing the high likelihood that they will victimize people again, but their hands are tied by politically motivated policies.”

And, she added, “The pro-sanctuary politicians feel no sense of regret, concern, or shame when these things happen. They make up excuses and blame ICE, just as here they tried to claim they never got the detainer. We will have to wait until later this year to see if the Supreme Court will affirm ICE’s authority, thus giving the Trump administration the opportunity to impose consequences on sanctuaries, but it would be better if Congress would update the immigration law to try to prevent these tragedies.”

President Trump has taken a special interest in sanctuary policies dating back to his 2016 presidential campaign when he expressed shock at the murder in San Francisco of Kate Steinle, shot and murdered by an illegal immigrant who had been repeatedly deported and recently released by San Francisco police.

This case has sparked a renewed attention on New York City.

And it comes amid a broader focus on New York state, which has decided to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants but block the federal government from accessing information about the holders.