Previously Deported Illegal Alien to Stand Trial for Murder

An illegal alien who had been previously deported multiple times and then was let out of jail because of a government processing error is now set to stand trial for murder. The Mexican national allegedly killed five people after immigration officials sent a detainer to the wrong jail.

A preliminary hearing for Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino was held this week in Missouri. Montgomery County Associate Circuit Judge Kelly Broniec set an arraignment date for June 1, the Associated Press reported.

Breitbart News’ Katie McHugh reported in March that Serrano-Vitorino allegedly killed four people in Kansas City, Kansas. The next day, he traveled to Missouri where he allegedly killed a fifth person.

In September 2015, Serrano-Vitorino was being held by the Overland Park, Kansas, Municipal Court. McHugh reported that the man’s fingerprints triggered an immigration detainer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Instead of sending the ICE detainer to the municipal court, officials delivered the notice to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. The illegal alien who had been previously deported multiple times for his criminal behavior was released and six months later, 5 Americans would be dead.

Another opportunity to remove the criminal illegal alien was again missed by ICE officials when Serrano-Vitorino was arrested in Kansas on domestic battery charges. The Sheriff’s office requested information about the man from ICE. The agency responsible for removing violent criminal aliens did not respond before the man was released from the county’s jail, the Daily Mail reported.

An outraged Congress demanded answers. The chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees contacted the Obama Administration to find out what went wrong, Breitbart News Caroline May reported in March.

May wrote, ”On at least two occasions, ICE was notified of Serrano-Vitorino’s arrests, but for various reasons, did not take custody of him,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA). “It appears that there was a systemic failure to effectively communicate between ICE and local law enforcement entities, allowing Serrano-Vitorino to evade removal by taking advantage of at least one sanctuary jurisdiction and weak immigration enforcement policies.”

The letter from Congress to the Obama Administration read, “Serrano-Vitorino has been arrested and charged with numerous crimes, including: communicating a threat with intent to terrorize; battery of a spouse; several driving without a license offenses; a subsequent  felony conviction for communicating a threat with intent to terrorize, reportedly based on his threat to kill his wife with a rifle, for which he was sentenced to incarceration for two years; two arrests for driving under the influence, which resulted in one conviction; and a conviction for domestic battery.”

Serrano-Vitorino illegally entered the U.S. in 1993, May reported. He was deported for criminal convictions in April 2004. That same month, he was captured re-entering the U.S. and returned to Mexico. Undeterred, the criminal illegal alien returned again in 2007.

Prosecutors in Missouri are seeking the death penalty in the murder case.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.