Two days after an illegal immigrant Gustavo Garcia staged in Tulare real terror, the Immigration service said that the tragedy could have been avoided if they just said that Garcia is on the loose. As a result of shooting three people, including the Garcia, was killed and seven people were hospitalized.
“Reign of Terror” OVER in Tulare County. https://t.co/9PMS0ScUFF…. #tularecounty #tularecountysheriff #crimespree #shootingspree #ois #officerinvolvedshooting pic.twitter.com/lqcyQeN1gU
— TulareCounty Sheriff (@TulareSheriff) December 18, 2018
Two days before the incident, police arrested Garcia. The man was under the influence of drugs. According to Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, Garcia was in jail for 10 hours. After the news about his arrest immigration office demanded to arrest Garcia as illegal immigrant. But since he committed only a minor offence, the police let him go free.
According to the California law on asylum, to arrest someone on such charges, you need to obtain a Federal arrest warrant. Local law enforcement agencies do not have the right to co-operate with the immigration service without a warrant, except in cases of particularly serious criminal offences.
«Before this law Gustavo Garcia has been handed over to agents of the immigration service. So we’ve always done, said Boudreau. But now we no longer have such authority.»
The immigration service reports that Garcia committed the armed robbery in 2003, for which he spent two years in prison. He was expelled from the country back in 2004. he Later served 27 months for illegal entry into the United States, and then in 2014 he was again deported. Armed robbery, a felony, which would allow to arrest Garcia and to pass immigration occurred almost 16 years ago, 11 months after the adoption of the law on asylum.
«Our hands are tied, added Boudreau. But I hope that the authorities will pay attention to it… All we ask is to cooperate with our colleagues from the immigration service to identify potentially dangerous criminals.»
