An illegal alien charged with sexually assaulting and murdering a 92-year-old woman in Queens, New York, remained in the United States for years after overstaying his visa, Breitbart News has exclusively learned.

Reeaz Khan, a 21-year-old illegal alien from Guyana, is set to face a grand jury after being arrested and charged last week with sexually assaulting and murdering 92-year-old Maria Fuertes by strangling her to death on a sidewalk in Richmond Hill, Queens.

Fuertes, residents told the New York Post, was a beloved and “lovely lady” of the community who was known for feeding neighborhood cats and collecting cans.

A law enforcement official exclusively confirmed to Breitbart News that Khan first came to the U.S. in May 2016 on a B-2 visa — the temporary nonimmigrant visa granted to foreign nationals who arrive as tourists for a short period of time.

Despite Khan having supposed to left the U.S. months later, the Guyanese national remained in the country as a visa overstay. Khan currently holds no immigration status, thus making him an illegal alien, as his B-2 visa expired three years ago.

At this initial interview with New York City detectives, Khan claimed to have “fell down, his belt broke, his pants fell down and his penis fell near [Fuertes’] vagina” and later admitted that “he did lift up [Fuertes’] skirt and … tried to put his penis inside of her.”

Khan was shielded from deportation, despite overstaying his visa, by New York state’s sanctuary policy that protects criminal illegal aliens from arrested and deportation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

On November 27, the New York Police Department (NYPD) charged Khan with assault and criminal possession of a weapon. ICE agents filed a request that Khan be turned over to them for arrest should he be released from NYPD custody. That request, though, was ignored and police freed him back into the general public.

Less than two months later, Khan allegedly murdered Fuertes.

“It is made clear that New York City’s stance against honoring detainers is dangerously flawed,” ICE official Thomas Decker said in a statement. “It was a deadly choice to release a man on an active ICE detainer back onto the streets after his first arrest included assault and weapon charges, and he now faces new charges, including murder.”

Khan has been charged with second-degree murder, second-degree assault, sexual abuse, sexual abuse of a person incapable of consent, depraved indifference, and contact by forcible compulsion. He is being held in a New York City jail without bail.

Within the last year, New York City officials likely freed about 3,000 criminal illegal aliens back into the general public, Breitbart News reported.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.