EXCLUSIVE: Accused Texas Cop-Killer in U.S. Illegally, Says ICE

HOUSTON, Texas — Immigration officials confirmed that the man accused of killing a Harris County Constable’s deputy was illegally present in the United States at the time of the alleged murder. The accused is a Salvadoran national who entered the U.S. illegally and was later arrested after fleeing to Mexico.

In response to an inquiry from Breitbart Texas, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official stated that Jose Oscar Rosales, a 50-year-old citizen of El Salvador, “previously illegally entered the U.S. on an unknown dates and at an unknown location without inspection or parole by U.S. Immigration officials and later fled to Mexico after allegedly murdering a Harris County Constable’s Office deputy.”

On Wednesday, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers filed an immigration detainer on Rosales with the Val Verde Sheriff’s Office in Del Rio, Texas.

U.S. Marshals and the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force teamed up with authorities in Mexico to arrest Oscar Rosales in Ciudad Acuña, according to KHOU CBS 11. Rosales faces capital murder charges in Houston for allegedly killing Harris County Precinct 5 Constable Corporal Charles Galloway.

Harris County Precinct 5 Constable Ted Heap told reporters during a press conference this week that Rosales carried out the “ruthless, savage execution” of Corporal Galloway, Breitbart Texas reported.

“This is a murderer. This is a ruthless, savage execution,” Constable Heap told reporters “We will not stop until this individual is apprehended, whether it’s on the federal, state or local level. People are looking right now and will not cease looking until he is apprehended.”

During a phone interview on Tuesday, Heap told Breibart that Rosales stepped out of his vehicle with an “assault-style” weapon and immediately opened fire as Galloway sat in his patrol vehicle. He said there was a tight grouping of bullet holes in the driver’s side of the windshield after Rosales fired 15-20 rounds in a very short span of time.

Police recovered the White Toyota Avalon allegedly driven by Rosales during the shooting. Chief Finner reported the identification of two of Rosales’ family members, Henri Mauricio Pereira Marquez, 42, and Reina Azucena Pereira Marquez, 40. The two family members are charged with tampering with the vehicle.

“On Jan. 25, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Houston Field Office lodged immigration detainers with the Harris County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office on Henri Mauricio Pereira Marquez, a 42-year-old noncitizen from Mexico, and Reina Azucena Pereira Marquez, a 40-year-old noncitizen from El Salvador, after they were both arrested by the Houston Police Department (HPD) for allegedly tampering or fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair,” ICE officials stated.