The Department of Justice has unsealed an arrest warrant for Jose Garcia Zarate, the illegal immigrant just acquitted of killing Kate Steinle in California.
This arrest warrant is in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas for a supervised release violation.
From Fox News:
The arrest warrant was originally drafted in 2015 and amended this week to include violations related to the charges of a felon in possession of a firearm, involuntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon, all of which were filed after the defendant’s initial arrest, according to Friday’s warrant.Officials at the Department of Justice told Fox News that there is an existing federal detainer that requires Zarate to be remanded into the custody of the U.S. Marshals to be transported to the Western District of Texas pursuant to the arrest warrant.
On Thursday, a jury found Garcia Zarate not guilty on three charges, including first and second degree murder and manslaughter. They did find him “guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm.” He claimed he found the gun “in a wrapped T-shirt under a bench and that he went off accidentally.”
From ABC News:
Garcia Zarate, a Mexican citizen, had been deported several times and has previous convictions for re-entry after deportation. Before the killing, he had been released from a San Francisco jail after a minor drug charge had been dismissed. Garcia Zarate was released under the city’s sanctuary laws although the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had issued a detainer for him.
The ICE agency lashed out at San Francisco. Fox News reported:
“Following the conclusion of this case, ICE will work to take custody of Mr. Garcia Zarate and ultimately remove him from the country,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.ICE Deputy Director Tom Homan added, “San Francisco’s policy of refusing to honor ICE detainers is a blatant threat to public safety and undermines the rule of law. This tragedy could have been prevented if San Francisco had turned the alien over to ICE, as we requested, instead of releasing him back onto the streets.”
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY