Jail: ICE didn't request Sanchez detention

Officials at Middle River Regional Jail recently received two requests in as many weeks from federal immigration authorities to detain David Luna Sanchez, including one following his beating of a Waynesboro man.

But the documents arrived 20 months late, more than a year after the Verona lockup released Sanchez, now a suspect in the killing of the man he previously attacked, jail officials said Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Cori Bassett told The News Virginian that agency records showed ICE sent three detainer requests to Middle River in January 2009 following the beating of Eduardo “Piku” Herrera the previous month at North Commerce Avenue in Waynesboro.

The agency faxed the documents directly to the Verona jail from an ICE field office in Harrisonburg after a local newspaper reported the beating. Two suspects in that case – Isaias Rojas, 23, and Jose Antonio Sanchez-Aregin, 21 – wound up being deported. But David Sanchez, 21, remained here, walking free on local streets last summer.

Middle River Regional Jail Assistant Superintendent Vernon Reynolds said detainer requests for Rojas and Sanchez-Aregin arrived in January and February. But Reynolds said the jail never received a request for David Sanchez until recently, almost two months after police say Sanchez stabbed Herrera to death in a Waynesboro alley.

“I can tell you, unequivocally, we never had any paperwork from anybody until it was hand-delivered here on Aug. 20,” Reynolds said. “And I can prove we didn’t get it.”

The Aug. 20 detainer request was unsigned, rendering it invalid, Reynolds said. The printed case date on that document was Jan. 7, 2009, almost a year-and-a-half before it was delivered to the jail, Reynolds said.

That request included the typed name of Immigration Enforcement Agent Marlan Holland. His signature appeared on the detainer requests for Rojas and Sanchez-Aregin.

After The News Virginian inquired about the case earlier this week, the jail on Tuesday received another detainer request for David Sanchez, Reynolds said. The second document, faxed from the Harrisonburg ICE field office, included a case date to match its arrival and a signature at the bottom of the page.

ICE officials said Wednesday they are researching the discrepancies between their earlier account and Reynolds’ assertion that the jail last year did not receive a detainer request for Sanchez.

“ICE records indicate that detainers were lodged for all three individuals,” Bassett said in an e-mail. “We will continue working with Middle River Regional Jail to review the specific circumstances of this case and to identify any areas that call for closer coordination.”

Reynolds said the jail currently holds 16 people on ICE detainers. An ICE detainer is a document from the agency that requests jails and prisons hold undocumented foreign citizens for potential deportation.

Sanchez’ case has triggered questions about why he wasn’t deported following the bat attack on Herrera. Recent advances have cleared some of the murk over when ICE learns of potential illegal immigrants caught in the criminal net.

A computerized cross-checking program now automatically alerts immigration authorities when local law enforcement agencies book suspects who are in the country illegally. That program, Secure Communities, was introduced in Fairfax County last year and was incorporated in Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County on June 8. It was not in place locally at the time of Sanchez’ arrest in the bat attack.

According to Bassett, the program eliminates the problem of placing the responsibility on local jurisdictions to report illegal immigrants to ICE. When local law enforcement runs a fingerprint or identification check on a suspect, that information automatically cross-checks with a federal immigration database, she said.

As of July 31, ICE has identified 6,766 foreign-born criminals in Virginia, Bassett said. Of those, 337 were convicted of Level 1 crimes, which include murder and rape.

Once jurisdictions convict an illegal immigrant, jails and prisons pay for their incarceration for their sentenced time using local tax money. Afterward, if ICE has placed a detainer on a suspect, federal taxpayers cover the cost of additional time behind bars, jail and prison officials said.

“Once we have them in the system we look at their records,” said Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections. “If they are foreign-born or claim to be of foreign birth then we report them to ICE. It’s up to ICE to determine if they’re illegals.”

Some of the money used to pay for illegal immigrants on ICE detainers comes from the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, Traylor said. SCAAP, a beleaguered federal grant program, provides money for correctional officer salary costs incurred while incarcerating illegal immigrants or foreign nationals.

Since the 2000 fiscal year, Virginia has received more than $38 million from the program. Augusta County, Staunton and Waynesboro did not appear on a recent list of localities receiving SCAAP money.