A Mexican citizen charged in a Missouri triple murder was previously jailed and released in New Jersey on domestic violence charges.

Luis Rodrigo Perez, 23, was being held at the Middlesex County Jail in December of last year on domestic violence charges. But the county did not honor a detainer from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), John Tsoukaris, head of the agency's Newark field office, said in a news statement Friday.

He said Perez was released from the jail in February 2018, without ICE being notified.

Authorities in Missouri said Perez and a 19-year-old accomplice killed two of their ex-roommates in a home in Springfield Mo., on Nov. 2. He is also accused of killing another 21-year-old woman the next day.

Police who charged him alleged Perez shot and killed Steven Marler, 38, and Aaron Hampton, 23, after they were kicked out of a house.

The next day, a relative found Starr's body at her home. She'd been shot six times, authorities said.

"This tragedy might have been avoided had it not been for the reckless policy required of the Middlesex County Jail by their county officials," Tsoukaris said.

ICE's Newark office has clashed with the jail before. In July, when announcing an arrest sweep of 37 people, a spokesman called out Middlesex as a "sanctuary county."

But county officials said they will honor detainers if an inmate has a prior first- or second-degree conviction or was named in a Final Order of Deportation signed by a federal judge.

"ICE has the legal authority and the resources to secure such orders from a federal judge with regard to any inmate in the county's custody it seeks to detain or deport," county officials wrote in a statement at the time.

But ICE, they wrote, "has chosen not to seek such orders."

Middlesex County officials followed up with a statement Friday night addressing Perez's case. ICE was told on Dec. 14 of last year that the county would not honor a detainer requested that day, because Perez had no first- or second-degree convictions.

Perez was in custody for 51 days after that, and ICE did not request a deportation order from a federal judge, which would have compelled the county to turn him over to the agency.

"Instead, ICE officials chose to do nothing, which places all responsibility of Mr. Perez's actions squarely upon ICE."

Also charged in the Missouri case was Perez' girlfriend Dalia Garcia, who took a bus from New Jersey to help burn evidence, authorities allege. She is charged with tampering with evidence.

-This article contains information from The Associated Press. It has been updated with additional information from Middlesex County.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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