Crime & Justice

Murder Warrant Lists Man Detained by ICE While Wife Was in Labor

ICE COLD

She drove herself to the hospital to give birth after agents arrested husband.

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Brendan McDermid / Reuters

An undocumented immigrant who was detained last week in California while heading to the hospital with his pregnant wife is one of three men listed in an arrest warrant for a 2006 murder in Mexico, documents show. Joel Arrona-Lara was arrested in San Bernardino in connection with the killing of Miguel Ángel Morales Rodríguez, also known as “El Garcia.” The other two men listed in the warrant are Julio Cesar Arrona-Lara and Roberto Arrona-Lara—despite their identical surnames, the relationship among the men is unclear. The man’s wife, María del Carmen Venegas, said she had to drive herself to the hospital to give birth alone after her husband was arrested by ICE agents. Speaking to the Associated Press, holding her newborn son, Damian, Venegas said: “I feel terrible. We need him now more than ever.” The incident drew international outrage, as the latest incidence of harsh detention techniques used by immigration officials.

Read it at Los Angeles Times