A 19-year-old Venezuelan national has been arrested in Houston for allegedly murdering a co-worker with a sledgehammer. The victim, Juan Antonio Salinas Leija, a carpenter, was found dead inside a home he was renovating after his family did not hear from him for two days.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Josue Abraham Chirino-Leonice, the suspect arrested in Texas, was released by the Biden administration in November 2023 following his border arrest. ICE has now requested that Harris County officials hold the individual without release pending immigration proceedings.
“This criminal illegal alien, who never should have been allowed into the country in the first place, is accused of savagely beating a co-worker to death with a sledgehammer and leaving him to die in a house they were renovating together,” said Gabriel Martinez, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston acting field office director.
The incident has prompted discussions over local immigration policies. Houston City Council recently voted to end a requirement that law enforcement hold illegal immigrants for at least 30 minutes before transferring them to ICE. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to claw back $110 million from the city if it reverses the policy.
Since President Trump returned to office, ICE has arrested thousands of individuals in the Houston area, including at least 414 charged with or convicted of child sex offenses. In five days this month, ICE Houston made nearly 150 arrests of criminal aliens.
The Houston City Council is set to reconsider its policy this week.