An illegal immigrant wanted for the murder of a woman in West Virginia has an “extensive” criminal history in his native El Salvador.
“We really need to change the immigration system in this country. This is unacceptable,” Berkeley County Sheriff Rob Blair told reporters at a press conference earlier this month.
David Antonio Calderon, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, was charged with murder after authorities responded to a fire in a Martinsburg field on May 6 and discovered a charred body. Calderon is currently in custody in Virginia and awaits extradition to West Virginia.
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This image shows David Antonio Calderon and the southern border. (Justin Hamel/Bloomberg via Getty Images/NRADC)
The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office said Calderon has been incarcerated in an El Salvadoran prison since 1999 and is believed to have entered the United States illegally after being released in 2021.
After entering the United States, he was apparently stopped at the U.S.-Canada border in March 2023, denied asylum and returned to U.S. authorities.
Calderon has an “extensive criminal history in El Salvador,” authorities said in a statement.
These arrests and convictions include DUI, sexual assault/murder, robbery, and drug-related offenses.
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But the sheriff’s office said he was released into the U.S. after being stopped at the U.S.-Canada border and notified to turn himself in because no beds were available.
He was arrested this month in Frederick County, Virginia, on separate warrants for aggravated assault, which involved three victims, two of which involved a baseball bat and one involving a stabbing.
After being taken into custody, he was charged with the murder of the woman, who has not been named, and an extradition warrant was issued for him to West Virginia.
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The crime is the latest allegedly committed by illegal immigrants and comes as the ongoing immigration crisis at the southern border has become a major political issue at the state and national levels.
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Last week, a man from El Salvador was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Virginia after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in the state. He had been arrested on a felony charge in 2020. Forced SexHe was charged with assault by force, intimidation, or other means against a victim over the age of 13. He was released the same year.
