Mejia was driving a dark Chevrolet pickup truck up the hill at a “high rate of speed,” police say. In addition, court records show Mejia’s blood alcohol content was 0.241, more than three times the legal limit.
FROM DES MOINES REGISTER:
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Ia. — In the space of a few seconds, Scott Root’s crushing grief gave way to blinding fury as he got off the phone with Omaha police.
It was painful enough that Root was making final funeral arrangements for his 21-year-old daughter, Sarah, who was involved in a fatal car crash just 16 hours after she had graduated summa cum laude from Bellevue University, south of Omaha.
Now he had to tell Sarah’s mother and brother that the man accused of driving drunk and causing the accident — who was in the U.S. illegally and was now charged with motor vehicle homicide — was already out of jail after posting bond.
“We hadn’t even had our service yet,” Root, 50, of Council Bluffs said in an interview with the Des Moines Register. “You lose a kid, and then you find out the person who killed her is let loose. … Words really can’t describe how you feel.”
Within three days of making bail, 19-year-old Eswin G. Mejia fled — and no one has been able to find him since.
Mejia’s case has triggered an international manhunt and ignited a flurry of finger-pointing over who’s to blame for letting him out of jail. It has also prompted larger questions about how the U.S. handles people in the country illegally who are accused of crimes. MORE
Mejia was also taken to the Nebraska medical center, then later that day was booked at the Douglas County Jail. A DUI report indicated that he was an “Alien” and a booking sheet noted “he’s not a citizen,” according to information provided to the Register by Omaha police.
FROM WASHINGTON POST:
Judge Jeffrey Marcuzzo set his bond at $50,000, meaning he had to post $5,000 to get out of jail, which a relative managed to do. He was released four days later. He was ordered back for mandatory drug screening on Feb. 8 but never showed. He disappeared and remains a fugitive sought by authorities to this day.
Eswin Mejia Placed on ICE Most Wanted List
March 30, 2016
U.S. Senator Ben Sasse issued the following statement this morning regarding the breaking development that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed Edwin Mejia (alias: Eswin Mejia) on its Most Wanted list, despite the fact that ICE failed to detain Mejia at the request of local law enforcement in early February.
“This important development underscores the seriousness of the situation, something ICE should have recognized immediately. Mr. Mejia should not need to be on this list — he should be in jail. ICE originally said that Mr. Mejia was not an ‘enforcement priority’ but this morning he was placed on their Most Wanted list. The public still does not have a complete account of what went wrong. It is well past time for ICE to make all the facts known so this never happens again.”
Background:
The following was released this morning by ICE as an update to its Most Wanted list:
Subject is a 19-year old citizen of Honduras, an at-large illegal alien, currently wanted for motor vehicle homicide. In 2016, Mejia was arrested for felony driving under the influence of liquor, after he struck a vehicle that allegedly caused the death of a young woman. He unlawfully entered the U.S. in 2013 and despite numerous attempts by ICE to locate his whereabouts, he currently remains at-large.
Name: Edwin Mejia
Alias: Eswin Mejia
Date of Birth: June 3, 1996
Place of Birth: Honduras
Skin Tone: Medium
Height: 5’05”
Weight: 150 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Gender: Male
Scars/Marks: Unknown
Last Known Location: Omaha, Nebraska
Occupation: Unknown
ICE continues to work with the Omaha Metro Fugitive Task Force to locate and apprehend Mr. Mejia. The ICE Most Wanted list can be found at www.ice.gov.
On March 16, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing on the security of the U.S. visa program. At the hearing, Sen. Sasse questioned Director Saldana about ICE’s failure to detain Eswin Mejia after he was street racing while drunk and killed Sarah Root.
SASSE: My letter to you is 16 days ago. Can you tell me when I’ll receive a reply because it has details on all of these questions?
SALDANA: Yes. I think we will get your reply within a couple of weeks if that’s satisfactory. And if you need it sooner, I’ll certainly work to try to get that.
SASSE: Can we have it by the end of next week?
SALDANA: Yes, you can.
The text of the original letter from February 29 can be found below:
Dear Director Saldana:
I would appreciate your help in understanding a recent decision by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) not to detain a man suspected both of living in the United States illegally and of killing a young woman, Sarah Root, in a drunk driving incident in Nebraska.
On January 31, Eswin Mejia, a 19-year old man, was reportedly street racing in Omaha, Nebraska when he violently crashed his pickup truck into the back of Ms. Root’s parked vehicle with her inside. She was rushed to the hospital, where she died.
For the past month, Nebraskans have grieved the death of Ms. Root, who was killed just hours after graduating from college. It is unspeakably sad that this innocent young woman was robbed of her life just as it was set to begin. Adding to the grief, however, is the justifiable anger over the fact that the man accused of taking her life has vanished without a trace after posting bail. Over the course of the last month, authorities have searched in vain to find Mr. Mejia so he might be brought to justice.
I would like to know why Mr. Mejia was ever allowed to leave law enforcement custody in the first place. In addition to being a citizen of Honduras living in the U.S. illegally, the nature of the charges against Mr. Mejia are extremely serious. Prior to killing this young woman, Mr. Mejia was racing recklessly down a busy street with a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit. This was not Mr. Mejia’s first encounter with the law enforcement either. Police previously suspected him of drunk driving, but he skipped a court hearing and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
For these reasons, Omaha’s Deputy Police Chief Dave Baker said his department repeatedly asked ICE to detain him. Unfortunately, that request was repeatedly denied.
The reason ICE gave to the news media said that detaining Mr. Mejia after he reportedly killed Ms. Root was not consistent with the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration “enforcement priorities.” The full statement from ICE is below.
At the time of his January 2016 arrest in Omaha on local criminal charges, Eswin Mejia, 19, of Honduras, did not meet ICE’s enforcement priorities, as stated by the Nov. 20, 2014 civil enforcement memo issued by Secretary Johnson, because he had no prior significant misdemeanor or felony conviction record. As such, ICE did not lodge a detainer. Mejia is scheduled to go before an immigration judge on March 23, 2017, and it will be up to the immigration courts under the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) to determine whether he has a legal basis to remain in the U.S.
As you know, the enforcement priorities mentioned above were created as part of the President’s immigration executive actions. The policy requires that ICE give its highest priority to removing illegal aliens who pose a threat “to national security, public safety, and border security.” While this includes those who are convicted of serious crimes, DHS officials are given broad power to “exercise discretion” about whom to detain.
DHS has repeatedly said that the use of “prosecutorial discretion” is meant to ensure federal law enforcement officials judge the facts of each situation on a case-by-case basis, and determine threats to national security and public safety.
If this man is not a threat to public safety, then who is?
To summarize: Mr. Mejia was suspected of living in the country illegally, of driving recklessly down a busy public road, of driving while highly intoxicated on several occasions, of killing a young woman, and of skipping a prior court hearing. Nebraskans look at these facts and wonder how ICE did not consider this man a threat to public safety.
Given Mr. Mejia’s disappearance, ICE should explain clearly how it implemented its detention policy in this case. Please provide my office with answers to the following questions prior to Mr. Mejia’s schedule immigration hearing on March 23.
1. Who exactly at ICE was responsible for evaluating whether Mr. Mejia was a threat to public safety?
2. Why did ICE decline to detain Mr. Mejia, despite several requests to do so by the Douglas County Police Department? Were each of these requests denied on a case-by-case basis?
3. In its public statement, ICE referenced the November 20, 2014 immigration executive actions. Why does ICE believe that new policy required the agency not to detain Mr. Mejia?
4. Did anyone within ICE consider Mr. Mejia a flight risk? What steps were taken to ensure he did not flee the country?
5. What is ICE doing now to find Mr. Mejia?
6. Do you consider Mr. Mejia to be a threat to public safety?
It is deeply troubling that this was allowed to happen. Given the urgency of this situation, Nebraskans deserve answers. I look forward to a prompt reply.
Sincerely,
Ben Sasse
