AUSTIN — A man being held in connection with a Dallas homicide that occurred last week is unlikely to be deported from the U.S. before his case is resolved, despite President Donald Trump’s comments on the man’s immigration status.
Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, 37, is facing a capital murder charge by terroristic threat after he attacked 50-year-old Chandra Nagamallaiah with a machete at the Downtown Suites motel on the morning of Sept. 10. Cobos-Martinez is accused of decapitating Nagamallaiah in front of his wife and son who had shown up to try to stop the attack.
Cobos-Martinez is an undocumented migrant from Cuba and has a prior deportation order to the country, said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. DHS lodged an immigration detainer against Cobos-Martinez while he is at the Dallas County jail on a $1 million bond.
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However, a spokesperson with Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Tuesday that the administration would “never” deport him before his state criminal case is resolved because it’s important to bring justice for the families.
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“As such, ICE would never remove Yordanis Cobos-Martinez from the U.S. prior to the resolution of the ongoing criminal proceedings against him or any potential criminal sentence that may result from that prosecution,” the spokesperson said in the email.
The immigration detainer does not mean that ICE will go to the jail and place him into deportation proceedings. Rather, if Cobos-Martinez is able to pay the bond amount, the detainer allows for him to be held for an additional 48 hours to give time for ICE agents to pick him up.
A grand jury would still need to indict Cobos-Martinez for felony charges, unless he chooses to waive the indictment.
Claire Crouch, a spokeswoman for Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, said Tuesday in an email that a case had not been filed with the office.
“We do not comment on pending cases or investigations,” Crouch said.
Over the weekend, Trump and McLaughlin blamed former President Joe Biden for Nagamallaiah’s death. Cobos-Martinez was held at the Bluebonnet Detention Center earlier this year and was released Jan. 13 because Cuba would not accept him, McLaughlin said.
Trump went further in his statement, saying it was time to stop being “soft” on migrants who are convicted of crimes.
“Rest assured, the time for being soft on these Illegal Immigrant Criminals is OVER under my watch!” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sept. 14.
Cobos-Martinez has prior criminal convictions and charges. In Harris County, he was charged with indecency with a child and assault causing bodily injury. Court records show the indecency charge was dismissed because of insufficient evidence and showed Cobos-Martinez pleaded guilty in the assault case and received a one-year jail sentence in January 2023.
He was also arrested in California in 2017 after he allegedly attempted to carjack a woman while naked, according to The Sacramento Bee.
McLaughlin said the killing was “completely preventable” if the individual had not been released by the Biden administration after Cuba declined to accept his deportation. While he was released from ICE detention, he was placed on an Order of Supervision, meaning he likely still had regular check-ins with ICE.
Elissa Steglich, the co-director of the University of Texas law school’s immigration clinic, said the federal government cannot indefinitely hold immigrants in detention once there has been an attempt to deport them.
“It’s very clear that constitutionally, legally, if it comes to a point where someone cannot be removed and DHS is unable to prove it in court that they can reasonably remove someone within six months, then they must release them,” Steglich said.