David Fidel Mora-Rojas committed these crimes AFTER he was arrested by the California Highway Patrol for several charges including DUI, Battery against a peace officer with injury. There were 5 charges against him when he was booked into the Merced County Jail. After Mora-Rojas’ fingerprints were scanned, we received a request from ICE to detain him because he was in our country illegally. He subsequently bailed out without being detained for ICE.
Because of SB 54, I am PROHIBITED to communicate with ICE or face criminal charges myself.
As you can see, this law has allowed known criminals to be free to commit more crimes within the United States. As has happened on other occasions, known criminals who are in this country illegally commit serious crimes including MURDER such as in this case. There is no doubt in my mind that if I was able to cooperate with ICE, this tragedy could have been avoided. Under current law, nationwide law enforcement’s hands are tied with policies that have a significant impact on our communities and their quality of life.
In my opinion, this law was brought forth by political and social influence and should be further reviewed to prevent future tragedies at the hands of criminal(s). As proven time and time again, criminals do not care what the laws are. It is time for us collectively impacted as citizens to rethink this law.