Denver police have charged an illegal immigrant with murdering an American just one month after they released the alien from jail despite pleas from federal immigration officials.

The criminal illegal alien, Ever Valles, was arrested in February and charged with the murder of Tim Cruz, 32. The victim was waiting at the Sheridan light rail station when Valles and accomplice Nathan Valdez allegedly approached him with the intent to rob him, according to Fox 31, Denver.

Police say Valles and Valdez are seen on the rail station’s surveillance video after allegedly robbing and shooting Cruz. Both Valles and Valdez were arrested within days of the murder.

The Hispanic-American victim was a landscaper and a graduate of Denver’s Lincoln High School who had turned 32 only three weeks before his Feb. 7 murder.

The release-and-murder sequence has happened in other states, most notably, with the July 2015 murder of Kate Steinle in California by a released illegal alien.

Denver Police admit that Valles had been in their custody weeks before the murder.

He was arrested in January on car theft and other charges but was released even though the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency officials had asked the department to alert them when he was about to be released so they could pick him up for repatriation. Immigration officials say Valles was a priority individual because he is a known gang member and illegal alien. He is also reportedly included in the Colorado gang database.

According to the local Fox affiliate, ICE had asked the DPD to alert them so that Valles could be picked up for deportation, but the department simply released Valles without informing ICE officials in time.

DPD officials insist that ICE was notified, but reporters were told by ICE that the police only gave them a 25-minute warning before Valles was released. Immigration officers did not have time to get to the station to pick Valles up and take him into federal custody.

A Denver Sheriff’s spokesman insisted that their job is not to “hold people on civil matters.”

The City of Denver has not openly declared itself a “sanctuary city,” but its policies are little different from cities that have made that bold statement.

Indeed, only weeks ago Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said he “welcomes” being considered a place of sanctuary for illegals even if his city hasn’t made the official declaration.

“If being a sanctuary city means that we value taking care of one another, and welcoming refugees and immigrants, then I welcome the title. f being a sanctuary city means families and young ‘Dreamers’ live with hope and not fear, then Washington can label us whatever they want,” Hancock said in a Youtube video statement posted at the end of January.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.