ICE arrests undocumented immigrant facing manslaughter in Yonkers

Show Caption Hide Caption Video: Lawmakers speak about the Immigrant Protection Act Lawmakers and activists speak about the Immigrant Protection Act in front of the legislative chambers in White Plains March 12, 2018.

An undocumented immigrant who was facing charges in connection with a fatal July assault in Yonkers was arrested by ICE in White Plains.

Feliciano Perez-Bautista, 32, a twice-removed Mexican national, is accused of beating 37-year-old Effginio Jose Rojas to death in the parking lot at 15 Park Hill Ave. on July 8.

ICE said in a statement that it lodged a detainer with the Yonkers police and Westchester Department of Corrections, but neither were honored because of the county's Immigrant Protection Act.

Bautista was ultimately released and arrested by ICE in White Plains on Nov. 26, ICE said. He was previously removed by ICE in May 2013 and September 2014, according to ICE.

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“When law enforcement agencies decide to not honor ICE detainers and release violent criminals back onto the streets, they are putting their city at serious risk,” ICE New York Field Office Director Thomas Decker said in a statement. “We want nothing more than to cooperate and work together with local law enforcement authorities in order to protect our communities and keep this nation secure. Unfortunately, more and more we are seeing politicians place their own political agenda above the safety of the citizens in which they serve. This leaves local law enforcement agencies handcuffed by these reckless policies which give them no choice but to release criminals, like this unlawfully present Mexican national charged with manslaughter, back onto the streets to further terrorize the community.”

The Immigrant Protection Act, which passed March, was intended to protect undocumented immigrants.

Legislator Virginia Perez, a Yonkers Democrat and immigrant from the Dominican Republic, told The Journal News/lohud.com in March that the bill sent a message that those who may be in the country illegally could trust local government and law enforcement.

"You don’t have to be afraid to report a crime, you don’t have to be afraid to get pulled over," she said. "Because here we’re not going to work...with the federal government as far as doing deportation raids."

Twitter: @ChrisEberhart2