Three Mexican brothers identified as part of an investigation into the shocking murder of a North Carolina sheriff’s deputy were all in the country illegally — including one who was caught and released at the border under the Trump administration.
Alder Alfonso Marin Sotelo, 25, and Arturo Marin Sotelo, 29, have been charged with murder in the killing of Deputy Ned Byrd.
Their younger brother Rolando Marin Sotelo, 18, faces a weapons charge but has not been charged in connection with the deputy’s killing.
All three snuck into the country, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Arturo was first arrested jumping the border as a juvenile in 2010 and was allowed to return to Mexico. Authorities don’t know when he snuck back in.
Border Patrol agents also first nabbed Rolando as a juvenile in Arizona in October 2019. He was sent back to Mexico but came back two months later, this time showing up 1,000 miles to the east at an official border crossing in Brownsville, Texas.
Though he still lacked permission to enter, he was allowed to do so anyway, under what’s known as “parole.” Nearly three years later he still hasn’t had his immigration hearing.
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He was indicted by federal prosecutors this week on a charge of being an illegal immigrant in possession of ammunition. An FBI agent said Rolando was arrested on Aug 16 by North Carolina police, and a search of his car turned up evidence of marijuana use and dozens of rounds of 9 mm ammunition.
The middle brother, Alder, wasn’t encountered by federal authorities until he was arrested in connection with the murder of Byrd. But he did have a local citation in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, last year for firearms possession. The citation was issued by a state trooper.
The Raleigh News & Observer reported that the charge was dismissed after he failed to show up for court twice.
A state police spokesperson didn’t respond to an inquiry about whether ICE was notified when Alder Sotelo was found with a weapon. Being an illegal immigrant in possession of a firearm is a federal felony, as his younger brother has found.
William Gheen, who is based in North Carolina and is president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, placed blame for Byrd’s killing on broken borders and sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
“The Sotelo brothers should have never been in America in the first place and should have had ICE detainers placed on them through 287(g) programs when previously encountered by police,” Mr. Gheen told The Washington Times.
Byrd, 48, was shot and killed in Raleigh around 11 p.m. on August 11.
Authorities say he had responded to a domestic call earlier in the night, but the sheriff’s department has struggled to explain why his vehicle was where it was.
He was found dead by another deputy who went to check on him just after 1 a.m. His K-9 partner, Sasha, was still in his vehicle.
*Article from: The Washington Times
