A Cuban national wanted in connection with a recent murder in Tennessee was arrested in La Pryor, Texas, on Monday. Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn said the immigrant entered the United States using the controversial CBP-One smartphone app.
Shortly after the arrest of suspect Daylen Roque Lopez, Senator Blackburn released a statement on social media saying, “An illegal immigrant who entered the United States through the Biden-Harris CBP One App last year is the suspect in the murder of a young woman in Tennessee. This Administration is welcoming violent criminals into our country. The victim's blood is on Joe and Kamal's hands.”
Authorities in Cleveland, Tennessee, began monitoring suspects shortly after a missing woman's body was discovered inside a home on North Crest Circle in the city. Police found the body of 25-year-old Dayana Garcia inside the home but did not provide any details on the cause of death. According to ABC News Channel 9. Shortly after the incident was discovered, authorities named Cuban national Daylen Roque Lopez as the sole suspect in what appears to be a domestic violence murder.
Shortly after Garcia's body was discovered, sheriff's deputies patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border in Zavala County, Texas, spotted the suspect's Toyota Corolla entering the small town of La Pryor, more than 1,100 miles from Cleveland, Tennessee. Deputies recognized the vehicle from a previous lookout and stopped it near a department store less than 50 miles from Mexico.
Daylen Roque Lopez, a Cuban immigrant released into the U.S. under a CBP One application, was arrested in Texas on suspicion of murder in Tennessee. (Photo: Zavala County Sheriff's Office)
Deputy Sheriff V. Alvizo of the Zavala County Sheriff's Office arrested Roque Lopez without incident on Tuesday at approximately 6:45 p.m. The deputy booked the suspect into the Zavala County Jail on murder charges filed by Tennessee authorities. According to Zavala County law enforcement officials, Roque Lopez is currently awaiting extradition to Tennessee to face the murder charges.
Breitbart Texas spoke with Zavala County Sheriff Eusebio Salinas Jr., who said he is proud of the work his officers do every day, and especially of Deputy Alvizo, who took in an extremely dangerous fugitive without putting civilians, suspects or himself in danger.
“This guy was definitely heading towards Mexico and wasn't far from the border,” Sheriff Salinas explained. “It was a remarkable feat that our deputies were able to make the arrest without anybody getting hurt.”
Salinas sheriffs are accustomed to significantly increased border patrol activity during the Biden-Harris border crisis, and they have jurisdiction over a vast area less than 50 miles from the border on a popular route to San Antonio, a major smuggling route that has proven deadly for migrants in recent years.
In July, a suspected migrant smuggler was killed when he crashed the vehicle he was driving during a high-speed pursuit while attempting to flee from Salinas Police officers. The suspected smuggler fled from law enforcement after being spotted in La Pryor. Several suspected migrants fled the crashed vehicle shortly thereafter. The smuggler's body was discovered inside a brown Chevrolet pickup truck with Louisiana license plates after it crashed into a tree.
In November 2023, another accident involving migrant smuggling occurred in the same county, killing eight people, including two innocent drivers, according to a Breitbart Texas report.
In that incident, one migrant smuggler and five migrants were killed when a vehicle they were using to flee from police collided with a vehicle carrying two innocent drivers from Georgia, who were also killed in the crash.
Randy Clark Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as Chief of the Law Enforcement Operations Division, where he led operations for nine Border Patrol stations in the Del Rio Sector, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
