ICE places immigration detainer on alleged hit-and-run driver accused of killing teacher
Immigration and Customs and Enforcement has placed an immigration detainer on the man accused of running over and killing an El Paso teacher on Thanksgiving Day.
“On Nov. 24, 2018, deportation officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed an immigration detainer with the El Paso (Texas) County Sheriff’s Department on Joel Josue Velazquez-Herrera, 24, of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, following his arrest on criminal charges,” an ICE spokeswoman said in a statement emailed to ABC-7.
ICE said that by placing the immigration detainer, it would be able to take custody of Velasquez, in the U.S. illegally, if he is released by the sheriff’s office after posting bond or if he beats the charges in court.
Special traffic investigators with the police department arrested and charged Velazquez with Accident Involving Death for the Thanksgiving day hit-and-run death of Amanda Weyant (Ferguson), El Paso Police said. Velazquez was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility with a bond of $150,000.
Police said Velasquez struck and killed Weyant at 1:45 a.m. on November 22, 2018 at Mesa and Cincinnati. Weyant was using a crosswalk when she was struck, police added.
The vehicle suspected of striking Weyant, a 1996 Chevrolet Cavalier, was abandoned farther east on the 1300 block of Cincinnati, police said. The vehicle had damage to its hood and a shattered windshield. Investigators dusted the vehicle for fingerprints.
A longtime family friend of Weyant told ABC-7 Weyant was a sixth grade teacher at Eastwood Heights Elementary.
