A man accused of stealing a Maryland Highway Administration tow truck and leading police on a ferocious high-speed chase Friday was in the United States illegally.
Cesar Flavio Lanuza, a Nicaraguan national, allegedly led authorities on a wild chase, crashing into other cars and a police cruiser before stopping in Silver Spring, Fox DC reported.
He was arrested and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requested his custody at the Montgomery County Detention Center.
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A Maryland man who led police on a chase after allegedly stealing a tow truck had entered the United States illegally, immigration authorities said. (WTTG)
“Cesar Flavio Lanuza is in Nicaragua illegally and is a Nicaraguan citizen,” James Convington, a spokesman for ICE Enforcement Operations in Baltimore, told FOX News Digital in a statement.
Covington said Lanuza will be transferred to the jail once he is released from the hospital.
Darius Reeves, head of Immigration Services’ Baltimore field office, told Fox DC that Lanuza is “of interest to ICE.”
“Once the state finishes its deal with him, we want him in our custody,” he told the news outlet.
The detainers filed in Lanuza are part of ICE’s removal operations, which aim to apprehend and remove individuals who ICE alleges have compromised public safety and violated federal immigration law. ICE has criticized Montgomery County in the past for not honoring requests for immigration detention.
A stolen Maryland tow truck is recovered after a police chase. (WTTG)
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Ira Melman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform told the news outlet: “They shouldn’t be in the country just because they’re violating immigration law.” “But clearly, when someone takes that extra step and poses a risk to society as a whole, local jurisdictions should be willing to cooperate in terms of protecting people in their own communities.”
FOX News Digital reached out to the detention center.
