Thread: Jailer told ICE of immigrant before ex killed

Jailer told ICE of immigrant before ex killed
By Kirk Mitchell
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 05/26/2007 11:30:29 PM MDT

A week before an illegal immigrant allegedly stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death, Arapahoe County jailers told federal immigration officials they had the Chilean locked up, but no effort was made to deport him.

"It boils down to a priority issue," said Carl Rusnok, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "We have to go after the most serious offenders. In this particular case, the traffic and drunken-driving charges didn't rise to that level of seriousness. Unfortunately, the one he committed now does."

ICE did place a hold on Freddy Aguilera-Zamora, 31, on Thursday after a Denver Post reporter notified the agency that Aguilera-Zamora was being held in Denver City Jail for investigation of first-degree murder.

"We'll place him in deportation proceedings," Rusnok said. ICE officials have confirmed that the native of Chile is an illegal immigrant, he said.

However, before deportation can be considered, Aguilera-Zamora first faces a possible charge in the death of his ex-girlfriend Britt Mackay, who was stabbed multiple times in her apartment in the 2200 block of South Josephine Street on Wednesday morning.

Another former girlfriend of Aguilera-Zamora, who asked to remain anonymous, said she called police when he climbed onto the second-floor balcony of her Parker apartment on Jan. 7, 2005, and pounded on her window.

Parker police arrested him that morning as he drove away from her apartment and charged him with a misdemeanor count of drunken driving.

"I thought for sure he'll be deported," the woman said, adding that Aguilera-Zamora had told her earlier he entered the country illegally. "This angers me a lot. It doesn't make sense. I was surprised they let him out of jail last week."

The woman said that her early-morning encounter with Aguilera-Zamora had some similarities with the circumstances leading to Mackay's death.

In both instances, he had been drinking, she said. And shortly before Aguilera-Zamora climbed up the side of her building, she had broken up with him.

Mackay's mother, Carol Mackay, said her daughter had split with Aguilera-Zamora, a plumber, about two months ago.

She said she did not know he was an illegal immigrant.

Arapahoe County Under sheriff Mark Campbell said his deputies call ICE whenever they suspect someone is an illegal immigrant regardless of the seriousness of the crime. In Aguilera-Zamora's case, a deputy called ICE on May 7, the day he entered the jail, but was told there would be no ICE hold on him. Campbell declined to comment further.

Rusnok said ICE doesn't have enough resources to investigate every referral the agency receives on a possible illegal immigrant. Instead, ICE focuses on the most serious offenders.

Last year, ICE deported more than 88,000 immigrant criminals to other countries, he said. A total of 195,000 illegal immigrants were deported, Rusnok said.

Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.

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"It boils down to a priority issue," said Carl Rusnok, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "We have to go after the most serious offenders. In this particular case, the traffic and drunken-driving charges didn't rise to that level of seriousness. Unfortunately, the one he committed now does."

How can a DUI not be considered serious? Drunk are killing people on our roads each and every day!