REPORT: DACA 'Dreamer' Wanted for Alleged Murder of Texas Store Owner

An investigation by a Houston television reporter revealed that the man accused of murdering a store owner is allegedly an illegal alien who is currently under President Barack Obama’s DACA amnesty program. The “Dreamer” is currently on the run after allegedly killing the store owner and shooting another man.

An investigation by ABC13’s Jessica Willey reports that accused killer Judas Deluna, 21, is an illegal alien who is currently under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) amnesty program. The program allows undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents to receive temporary protected status from deportation. The federal government is supposed to conduct a criminal background investigation prior to adjusting the immigrant’s DACA status.

Deluna may have obtained the DACA protection despite a prior history of felony arrests and convictions.

Court records obtained by Breitbart Texas from Harris County District Clerk Chris Daniel’s office show that Deluna received a felony conviction for a terroristic threat made in 2015. The judge of the 176th Criminal District Court sentenced the man to 60 days in county jail. He had also been charged with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. That charge was dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Earlier that year, prosecutors charged Deluna with a felony charge of evading arrest with a motor vehicle. The same judge placed the man on four years of probation and deferred adjudication. Following the new murder charge, prosecutors filed a motion to adjudicate this charge.

The current murder charges stem from a shooting that occurred outside DJ’s Food Mart in northwest Harris County in January, Willey reported. It is believed that Deluna got into a fight with another man. He fled to his vehicle where he reportedly pulled a gun and shot the man he was fighting with. When store owner’s son, Rahman Rupani, responded to the shooting, Deluna allegedly shot him as well. Rupani died from his wounds.

Deluna fled the scene in a Black Lincoln Navigator, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Breitbart Texas.

He has been on the run since the January 26 shooting. Willey reported that during the passing three weeks, she learned of Deluna’s status as a DACA “Dreamer.”

Willey also learned that Deluna’s illegal alien father, Manuel Deluna, is also a violent felon who is currently facing deportation proceedings.

Crime appears to be the family business. Judas Deluna’s older brother, Eric Deluna, also has a violent criminal history that includes convictions in state court in 2005 of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon and a 2011 case of Aggravated Robbery with a Deadly Weapon, according to Harris County court records obtained by Breitbart Texas.

Willey reported that Eric Deluna planned to ambush a Los Zetas cartel drug shipment in Houston. The shipment was actually part of a federal sting operation. The sting turned violent when a gun battle ensued. A federal informant died in the shootout and a Harris County deputy sheriff was wounded. The older Deluna brother received a 30-year prison sentence.

Activists have often attempted to paint the picture of all DACA recipients being upstanding, law-abiding residents of this country. However, Breitbart Texas has previously reported on crimes, including human smuggling and gang membership, committed by DACA recipients.

“This is not a depiction of who Dreamers are, who DACA holders are,” Cesar Espinosa, an immigrant rights activist with FIEL Houston told ABC13. “We, like everyone else, don’t want those people here. Don’t want bad actors in our community.”

Esponisa then fell back on conflated statistics on immigrant crime which does not separate crimes committed by legal and illegal immigrants. “Studies have shown immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than born citizens because even if you make a small mistake it could lead to something as big as a deportation for ourselves,” Espinosa said.

Many states do not statistically separate crimes committed by immigrants based on their status. However, a study conducted in Arizona where immigration status is tracked reported that “Dreamer”-age illegal aliens are twice as likely to commit crimes as young American citizens. Breitbart News’ Neil Munro wrote, “The report punctures claims by pro-amnesty advocates that young ‘dreamer’ illegals are vital to U.S. industry and civic life, and indicate that any amnesty will ensure that many more crimes — including murders and rapes — will be inflicted against Americans and legal immigrants, including Hispanics and blacks.”

The report states:

Unfortunately, if the goal of DACA is to give citizenship to a particularly law-abiding group of undocumented immigrants, it is accomplishing the opposite of what was intended. As Table 8 shows, DACA age eligible undocumented immigrants are 250% more likely to be convicted of crimes than their share of the population. Those too old for DACA status are convicted at a relatively low rates (45.7% more than their share of the Arizona population).

A report summary explains:

Using newly released detailed data on all prisoners who entered the Arizona state prison from January 1985 through June 2017, we are able to separate non-U.S. citizens by whether they are illegal or legal residents. These data do not rely on self-reporting by criminals. Undocumented immigrants are at least 142% more likely to be convicted of a crime than other Arizonans. They also tend to commit more serious crimes and serve 10.5% longer sentences, more likely to be classified as dangerous, and 45% more likely to be gang members than U.S. citizens …

If undocumented immigrants committed crime nationally as they do in Arizona, in 2016 they would have been responsible for over 1,000 more murders, 5,200 rapes, 8,900 robberies, 25,300 aggravated assaults, and 26,900 burglaries.

Judas Deluna remains a fugitive at this time. His victim, Rhaman Rupani, leaves behind a grieving wife and two young children.

A cash reward is being offered by Houston Crime Stoppers for information leading to Deluna’s arrest.