DHS Changed Regulation That May Have Stopped Machete Murder

Photo Credit: APIn July of 2011, Cristian Zamora, a 19-year-old illegal alien from El Salvador, was cited for driving without a valid driver’s license in Walker County, Texas, by a Texas Department of Public Safety officer. According to the police incident report, Zamora arrived at the scene of a crash that was already under investigation in order to pick up family members, “lied about how he got to [the] scene,” and was ultimately found to be driving without a valid license.

Due to the lack of a state law allowing officers to check for immigration status, combined with federal regulations under the Obama administration, Texas authorities never checked Zamora’s immigration status and he was never detained. Zamora was simply ticketed and fined $136, according to Walker County court documents.

Two years later in 2013, Zamora and two other El Salvadorian illegal aliens, all reportedly members of the MS-13 gang, allegedly killed and dismembered 16-year-old high school sophomore Josael Guevara in the Sam Houston National Forest. They first allegedly hit him with a baseball bat and then mutilated him with a machete.

While investigating the two incidents, CNSNews.com asked the Texas Department of Public Safety whether the officer who cited Zamora in 2011 checked Zamora’s immigration status or referred him to federal authorities for being an illegal alien after writing him a ticket for driving without a valid license.

“There is no record that Mr. Zamora was referred to federal authorities,” Texas DPS spokesperson Tom Vinger responded in an email.

Read more from this story HERE.