U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli says 27-year-old Briant ReyesEstrada is in the country illegally.
Reyesestrada is the man charged with murder and child abuse, alleged for leaving his six-year-old son in his car on a hot afternoon. Essayli said in a post on social media that ReyesEstrada was previously arrested, and an ICE detainer was issued to deport him. Instead he was “released from jail because of California’s sanctuary state laws.”
California’s sanctuary state law prevents local law enforcement officials from cooperating with federal immigration detainers, as they are administrative actions. Exceptions are when the person being held has been convicted of a qualifying violent crime, or if a federal judge has issued a warrant.
District attorney Dan Dow said on social media: “Had Mr. ReyesEstrada been properly detained, he would not have been free and able to do what he is alleged to have done to his child on May 10th. His child’s death would likely not have happened.”
