Relatives of the Guatemalan citizen accused of setting fire to a woman in the New York subway demand her return to her native country, although legal experts believe that she will first respond to justice in the US.
The family of an irregular migrant of Guatemalan nationality, accused of burning a woman in the New York subway, asks her to be deported to her country “immediately”, a possibility that legal experts see unlikely.
The suspect was identified as Sebastián Zapeta, 33, according to official documentation presented by his relatives, has no pending accusations in Guatemala.
The recent tightening of immigration policy by the United States would complicate this request, explained Guatemalan lawyer Fernando Pereira, who indicated that first concluded the process he faces in the United States, and then deported.
“Due to its irregular migrant status, you must first fulfill the penalty imposed by murder in a prison located in the United States and until it ends, they will obviously deport it,” the lawyer told the lawyer to the Voice of America.
Pereira mentioned that “there is no report that this man has a criminal record in Guatemala, therefore, he would not face process” in his country of origin.
“Basically in Guatemala I would not face any process because of the fact committed in the US. The prosecution, capture and criminal processing occurs in the place where the criminal act was committed. Apart would be if Guatemala was asking the US, the extradition of the individual for having committed an illicit here. ”
The Guatemalan accused of burning a woman who slept on a New York City Metro train was prosecuted for homicide and deliberate fire charges, according to the Prosecutor's Office.
“It was a malicious act. A sleeping and vulnerable woman in our transport system, ”said Eric Gonzalez, Brooklyn district prosecutor, after a brief judicial hearing where the accusation was announced.
The family's request is given because Zapeta had been deported and returned to the United States irregularly.
At the discretion of the analyst on migratory issues, Fernando Castro, these cases negatively mark the opinion of migrants in the United States and support the government's position headed by President Donald Trump.
“It is nothing favorable for the situation of immigrants, not only Guatemalans, but of any nationality, remember that recently the US government. by Donald Trump approved the law (Laken) Rileywhich is extremely serious for those who have committed a first -degree crime, this is adding aspects against the immigrant population and especially for a republican government that is being much more strict in the laws for this population resident in the US, “said Castro, a immigration analyst.
The train victim has been identified as Debrina Kawan and is a woman of Nicaraguan nationality.
Although the Guatemalan declared himself not guilty of the positions he faces, the victim's family catalogs him as a “monster” and asks that he be expelled from the United States.
The American television network Fox reported citing the United States immigration and customs control spokesman, Marie Ferguson, which Zapeta was arrested by the border patrol on June 1, 2018, after illegally crossing Sonoita, Arizona, and was deported by the Trump administration a few days later, on June 7.
(With information from Eugenia Sagastume, collaborator of the VOA in Guatemala)