A duo of illegal alien brothers has been charged with the murder of a K9 officer and sheriff’s deputy in Wake County, North Carolina.
The incident occured on August 12 when illegal alien brothers 25-year-old Alder Alfonso Sotelo and 29-year-old Arturo Marin Sotelo shot and killed Ned Byrd, a 13-year veteran of the force, in Raleigh after he had gotten out of his patrol vehicle.
Byrd, 48, was later found shot to death outside his vehicle, while his K9 partner, Sasha, was left unharmed.
“He lived his life to the fullest, he was helpful, kind, and very much loved. Ned was a friend to all, and family to many. He was the strongest smartest big brother one could ask for — he was my hero, and my rock. He has left this world too soon, and has taken what’s left of my heart with him,” Byrd’s sister Mignon Byrd Perkins wrote in an obituary.
Last week, the Sotelo brothers were indicted by a grand jury for the murder of Byrd and the two are now facing life in prison or the death penalty if convicted.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency said that both brothers are from Mexico and entered the U.S. through the southern border. Arturo, in particular, had been apprehended and returned to Mexico in June 2010 near Naco, Arizona, before illegally crossing the southern border again.
ICE officers placed detainers on the Sotelo brothers this month, requesting that the pair be turned over to the agency for arrest and deportation in the event they are released from local police custody. Wake County, however, remains one of the country’s most dangerous sanctuary jurisdictions.
“In 2020, nearly 200 suspected illegal immigrants were released from Wake County jail,” the Immigration Reform Law Institute reported. “In the last 12 months, Wake County detention facilities admitted over 32,000 detainees. Approximately one-third, or 12,000, of these admissions bonded out almost immediately or received conditions of release.”
This comes as the southern border crisis worsens thanks to the Biden administration’s failed border policies. The Customs and Border Protection announced recently that the southern border had 199,976 migrant encounters in July, totaling 1.946 million migrant encounters this year.
The swarm of illegal immigrants in nearby border cities has also resulted in property damage, stolen vehicles, gun violence, and other issues resulting from migrants crossing into their counties, many of which are desolate and have sparse populations.
