Policy Loophole May Have Helped Murder Suspect Escape, Flee To Mexico

HOUSTON, TX -- A loophole in the law regarding illegal aliens may have helped a man awaiting sentencing in a 2014 murder to escape.

Jose Hernandez, 22, who was in the U.S. illegally pleaded guilty to the December 2014 murder of 17-year old Bryan Blanco shortly after his arrest in 2015.

Two days after Christmas, Blanco was lured to a Sharpstown area park with a fake Facebook page set up by Hernandez and Frank Marinero, and gunned down.

Marinero was sentenced to 99 years in prison last year.

Hernandez was free on bail and awaiting sentencing, when he removed his ankle monitor and fled the day before he was to appear in court.

After Hernandez entered his guilty plea, authorities contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to put a detainer on him to prevent him from being released on bail, but that request was denied because Hernandez had not been convicted of the crime.

An ICE spokesman told KPRC Wednesday in a written statement:
“Hernandez did not have any criminal convictions and therefore did not fall within any of the enumerated priority categories under the Department’s civil enforcement guidelines. Accordingly, an ICE detainer was not placed on him.”

Houston Police Officers Union representative Ray Hunt said the policy simply doesn’t make any sense, and said this is the national level at it’s worst.

His family was even more shocked by the ICE statement.

“Couldn’t believe it. We were shocked. We were like, what?” Blanco’s uncle Carlos Vasquez told KPRC.

Meanwhile, Hernandez remains at large, and authorities believe he was headed to Mexico.

Anyone with information on Hernandez’s whereabouts was asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477.

Image: Houston Police Department