Federal immigration officials announced on Monday the arrest of a man in metro Atlanta who is wanted for murder in his native Venezuela.
In a statement shared on social media, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials described the 30-year-old man as an “illegal alien.”
“He crossed our border, hid among us, and thought he got away. He didn’t,” the statement continued. “Justice has a long memory — and a badge.”
ICE confirmed that the arrest took place at an apartment complex in Lawrenceville, a Gwinnett County town that in recent years has attracted many new immigrants from the border.
The agency identified the Venezuelan national as Alexander David Edwards Contreras. He is currently in custody in the sprawling Stewart Detention Center in South Georgia, the country’s second busiest ICE jail.
In an active TikTok account with roughly 43,000 followers, Contreras chronicled his life as a new immigrant in metro Atlanta, with the bulk of his content centering on promoting parties he helped organize. In his most recent videos, Contreras advertised a salsa, reggaeton and merengue dance party to be held Saturday in Lilburn.
In other videos, Contreras gave followers an insight into his various day jobs, including a loading and unloading job at a local warehouse.
“This is the American dream,” he filmed himself saying after a shift working at a poultry plant.
In another video, Contreras claimed to have been able to receive a work permit and a Social Security Number.
One of the pathways to obtaining work authorization and a social security number for Venezuelans who recently entered the U.S. illegally was through the Temporary Protected Status program, which provides humanitarian relief to migrants from nations that have undergone social strife, experienced armed conflicts or natural disasters.
President Joe Biden created and then extended TPS protections for Venezuelans during his time in office.
On Monday, the Supreme Court said that it would allow the Trump administration to proceed with a policy of removing protections from nearly 350,000 Venezuelan nationals who had been allowed to remain the country through the TPS program.
Trump’s Department of Homeland Security first moved to phase out TPS for Venezuelans in February, but people affected by the change sued, claiming that the department violated administrative procedures and was influenced by racial bias.
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