ICE detains man driving pregnant wife to California hospital
UPDATE: 8/20/2018 12:18 p.m. An official of the Mexican state of Guanajuato confirms that a man detained by immigration agents in California is wanted on an arrest warrant for homicide in Mexico.
The official was not authorized to be quoted by name and could not say when the crime occurred, but said it was an intentional homicide case akin to a U.S. murder charge.
The official said Monday that Mexican prosecutors had asked the U.S. government to help find and detain Joel Arrona Lara.
Arrona Lara’s wife had to drive herself to the hospital and give birth without her husband after he was detained by immigration agents Wednesday in San Bernardino.
The couple came to the U.S. 12 years ago from the city of Leon, Guanajuato, without legal authorization to live in the U.S.
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The lawyer for a Mexican migrant detained by immigration agents in California while driving his wife to a hospital to give birth says the man may have been mistaken by agents for his brother.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say Joel Arrona Lara was wanted on a warrant in a homicide case in Mexico.
He was detained last week while stopping for gas.
His wife, Maria del Carmen Venegas, had to drive herself to a scheduled C-section.
Arrona attorney Emilio Amaya Garcia told KCBS-TV on Sunday he is unaware of any warrant and has been unable to confirm it with the Mexican consulate.
Garcia says authorities might have mistaken Arrona for his brother, who has done jail time in Mexico.
A telephone message to the consulate was not returned.
