An illegal immigrant wanted for the murder of a woman in West Virginia has an "extensive" criminal history in his home country of El Salvador.
"We really need to change our immigration system in this country. This is unacceptable," Berkeley County Sheriff Rob Blair told reporters at a press conference earlier this month.
David Antonio Calderon, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, is now charged with murder after authorities responded to a fire in a field on May 6 in Martinsburg, where a burnt body was located. Calderon is currently in custody in Virginia and awaiting extradition to West Virginia.
EL SALVADORAN SEX OFFENDER LIVING ILLEGALLY IN US ARRESTED IN VIRGINIA
The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department said that Calderon is believed to have illegally entered the U.S. after his release from an El Salvadoran prison in 2021, where he had been jailed since 1999.
After entering the U.S. he is believed to have then been stopped at the U.S.-Canada border in March 2023, where he was denied asylum and turned back to the U.S. authorities.
Officials said in a release that Calderon has an "extensive criminal history in El Salvador."
Those arrests and convictions include DUI, sexual assault/murder, aggravated robbery and narcotics-related crimes.
TURKISH MIGRANT CROSSING US BORDER SAYS AMERICANS ‘RIGHT’ TO BE CONCERNED
The sheriff’s office says, however, that after being stopped at the U.S.-Canada border, he was released back into the U.S., and given a notice to appear -- allegedly due to no beds being available.
He was initially arrested in Frederick County, Va. this month on separate warrants out for his arrest on charges of malicious assault. Those charges involve three victims, two include the use of a baseball bat and the other is a stabbing.
After being taken into custody, he was charged with the murder of the unnamed woman and a warrant was served for his extradition to West Virginia.
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The crime is the latest such incident committed allegedly by an illegal immigrant, and comes as the ongoing migrant crisis at the southern border is proving to be a major political issue at the state and national level.
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Last week, a Salvadoran man was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Virginia with prior convictions for sexual battery against a woman in the state. He had been arrested in 2020 for felony forcible sodomy, by force, threat, etc., on a victim age 13 or older. He was released the same year.
