Haitian migrant arrested after gas station clerk hammered to death

A Haitian man accused of bludgeoning a Florida gas station clerk to death with a hammer had illegally entered the country during the Biden presidency, and was later granted Temporary Protected Status by the Biden administration.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it helped Fort Myers police capture Rolbert Joachin, who was charged in the deadly beating last week.

Surveillance video shared by authorities allegedly showed Mr. Joachin, 40, smashing the woman’s car before he pummeled her in broad daylight.

Police didn’t disclose the victim’s identity, nor did they say whether the two had a connection.

The suspect “was released into the country by the Biden administration,” Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary of Homeland Security, said in a statement. “Not only did the Biden administration release him into the country, but they then gave him Temporary Protected Status. Their reckless immigration policies cost this woman her life.”

ICE said Mr. Joachin crossed illegally into the U.S. in August 2022 and was released into the country.

A federal judge ordered him removed that year, but the Biden administration gave him the TPS. That status expired in 2024, and Mr. Joachin had been roaming the country illegally ever since.

“This horrific murder was preventable. Even as Florida arrests hundreds of criminal aliens every day, four years of the Biden admin’s open-border policies continue to wreak havoc on our communities,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said. 

ICE said it will seek to deport the suspect regardless of the outcome of his criminal case.

The Haitian’s arrest follows a separate announcement from ICE in which it said it apprehended five more illegal immigrants who had entered the U.S. during the Biden administration, despite being wanted on homicide charges abroad.

Officials said they captured Altieris Chaves Paiva on Sunday in Falmouth, Massachusetts, in connection with a slaying.

ICE also nabbed Bryan Rafael Gomez in Worcester, Massachusetts, over the weekend. He faces homicide charges in the Dominican Republic.

Last month, authorities said they arrested Magno Jose Dos Santos and Kele Cristian Alves-Pereira in Massachusetts. Both are wanted in Brazil on separate murder charges.

And in Connecticut, ICE said it arrested Danny Granados Garcia. He is wanted for a killing in El Salvador and on charges related to his association with a terrorist organization.