Fugitive added to ICE Most Wanted List
Fugitive added to ICE Most Wanted List
Updated: Wed 12:02 PM, Mar 30, 2016
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Omaha, Neb. Federal authorities are turning up the heat in the hunt for Eswin Mejia. The man on the run after a deadly metro traffic accident is being put on the ICE Most Wanted List.
The uproar over this case has been growing louder every day. Senator Ben Sasse confirmed to WOWT 6 News Wednesday that ICE is elevating the status of the case, putting Mejia on the Most Wanted list.
Senator Sasse issued a statement Wednesday stating: "This important development underscores the seriousness of the situation, something ICE should have recognized immediately.
Mr. Mejia should not need to be on this list — he should be in jail. ICE originally said that Mr. Mejia was not an 'enforcement priority' but this morning he was placed on their Most Wanted list.
The public still does not have a complete account of what went wrong. It is well past time for ICE to make all the facts known so this never happens again."
Mejia, 19, is accused of causing a deadly accident while street racing. He was allegedly under the influence of alcohol when he slammed into a vehicle driven by Sarah Root,21, on January 31. Ms. Root was killed.
Mejia posted bond and vanished.
The case has been attracting national attention as congressional representatives from Nebraska and Iowa demand answers about how this case was handled.
The traffic accident in which Sarah Root was killed happened near 33rd and L streets.
Investigators say that Mejia had a blood-alcohol content more than three times the legal limit, was driving on a suspended license, illegally street racing and illegally in the United States.
Mejia was scheduled for a preliminary hearing in February. He never showed up.
The Root family has started an effort to circulate a petition to try and get leaders to hold Judge Jeffrey Marcuzzo responsible for the low bond on Mejia. The family plans to be collecting signatures at 78th and Dodge on Saturday.
ICE issued a statement Wednesday quoting Director Sarah Saldaña as saying, "ICE is working with law enforcement authorities in Nebraska and Honduras to locate and arrest Mejia. ICE will work tirelessly to ensure justice is done in this matter."
According to the statement, that includes efforts, "to further publicize this case by posting Mejia on ICE Most Wanted List.”
The statement further clarifies the department's handling of the Mejia case with the following:
"All decisions made by ICE officers - regarding apprehension, detention, bond or release - are made on a case-by-case basis.
Based on the totality of circumstances involved in Mr. Mejia's case when he was arrested in Omaha in January 2016, ICE officers decided not to issue a detainer at the time.
However, the Secretary's guidance on detainers and immigration enforcement priorities provides ICE with flexibility in its immigration enforcement activities, including for cases where a senior field manager determines that the removal of an alien, who does not fit within an enumerated priority category, would serve an important federal interest.
Further review of the case may have resulted in the conclusion that, because of the seriousness of the vehicle crash, Mr. Mejia's case rose to the level of an important federal interest.
Senior ICE officials at headquarters have brought this matter to the attention of all field leadership to reaffirm that appropriate consideration must be given to all cases which may meet an important federal interest."
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