President Trump linked the beheading of a Dallas motel manager to immigration policies, blaming the Biden administration for allowing the Cuban national accused in the killing to remain in the U.S. despite prior arrests.
Chandra Nagamallaiah died last week, and Dallas police identified Yordanis Cobos-Martinez as the suspect. Cobos-Martinez is being held in the Dallas County Jail for capital murder and has an immigration hold, jail records show.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed it has lodged a detainer with the Dallas County Jail for Cobos-Martinez’s federal arrest and removal. In a statement, ICE said he is a Cuban national and in the U.S. illegally.
In a post on his Truth Social account Sunday evening, Mr. Trump said, “I am aware of the terrible reports regarding the murder of Chandra Nagamallaiah, a well respected person in Dallas, Texas, who was brutally beheaded, in front of his wife and son, by an ILLEGAL ALIEN from Cuba who should have never been in our Country. This individual was previously arrested for terrible crimes, including child sex abuse, grand theft auto, and false imprisonment, but was released back into our Homeland under incompetent Joe Biden because Cuba did not want such an evil person in their Country.”
While Cobos-Martinez has an extensive arrest history, he was not convicted in every case. Court records show the child indecency case against Cobos-Martinez was dropped due to insufficient evidence, and Cobos-Martinez was acquitted of grand theft auto after a trial in California.
According to ICE, Cobos-Martinez was under a final order to be deported but Cuba would not take him back due to his criminal record. He was released from the Bluebonnet Detention Center in the final days of the Biden administration under an order of supervision, ICE said.
In response to a request for comment from CBS News Texas, a former Biden administration said, “The Order of Supervision was issued seven days before President Biden left office and therefore managed by the Trump administration. If the Order of Supervision was not upheld for 8 months and they somehow lost track of the individual allegedly responsible for this heinous crime, then the Trump administration should answer to this.”
Since taking office, the Trump administration has implemented a new policy to deport nationals from countries without deportation agreements to third countries that are willing to accept them. Those countries include Guatemala, South Sudan, Eswatini and Rwanda.
“Rest assured, the time for being soft on these Illegal Immigrant Criminals is OVER under my watch! Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Border Czar Tom Homan, and many others in my Administration, are doing an incredible job in, MAKING AMERICA SAFE AGAIN,” Mr. Trump’s post said.
Grisly attack, beheading at Dallas motel
On Sept. 10, Dallas police responded to the Downtown Suites motel on Samuell Boulevard in Old East Dallas. According to an arrest affidavit, Cobos-Martinez became upset with Nagamallaiah, pulled out a machete and started attacking.
Nagamallaiah’s wife and son, who were in the motel office, tried to intervene several times, police said, but Cobos-Martinez pushed them away and continued the attack. Cobos-Martinez then took Nagamallaiah’s cell phone and key card from his pockets before again resuming the attack until Nagamallaiah’s head “was removed from his body,” police said.
Mr. Trump said Cobos-Martinez would be charged with murder in the first degree, which is not a charge in Texas. The equivalent charge is capital murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of the death sentence.
