ICE Lodges Detainer for Illegal Alien Arrested in Fatal Hit-and-Run in North Carolina

This illegal alien was RELEASED into the country by the Biden Administration

WASHINGTON - The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer asking officials in Jackson County, North Carolina to not release an illegal alien charged with hit-and-run resulting in death.

According to local reporting, the incident occurred on August 2 in Sylva, North Carolina. The victim, 51-year-old James Robert Bagley III, was struck by a vehicle shortly before three in the morning, with the driver fleeing the scene in their vehicle. Bagley was found unresponsive by first responders, who pronounced him dead at the scene.

The victim: James Robert Bagley III, 51

On August 7, the Sylva Police Department announced that they had arrested the suspect, Mauricio Josue Alberto Sarmiento, an illegal alien from Honduras, and charged him with felony hit-and-run resulting in death, no liability insurance, driving while license revoked, exceeding safe speed, and failure to reduce speed.

The suspect: Mauricio Josue Alberto Sarmiento

ICE lodged a detainer with the Jackson County Jail the same day Sarmiento was arrested.

"This criminal illegal alien from Honduras has been charged with a felony and other crimes after a hit-and-run that killed a man in Sylva, North Carolina," said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. "If it weren't for the Biden Administration's disastrous open borders, James Bagley would still be alive. ICE is asking officials in Jackson County to cooperate and not release this criminal from jail without notifying ICE. By securing our border and deporting illegal aliens, we can save lives and prevent tragedies like this one from ever happening again."

Sarmiento illegally entered the United States through Texas as an unaccompanied minor in October 2021, and was arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol. The Biden Administration then reunified him with an unrelated sponsor, RELEASING him into the country.

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