Grieving mother sues DHS over MS-13 member's alleged rape and murder of her autistic daughter

Kayla Hamilton, an autistic girl from Virginia, was savagely raped and murdered in Maryland one year into the Biden presidency. The suspect charged for the 20-year-old American's murder is not only an illegal alien but a member of the terroristic gang Mara Salvatrucha 13.

While justice may ultimately be meted out to the suspect later this year, Kayla Hamilton's grieving mother wants those who allowed him and innumerable other foreign criminals into the country to similarly be held accountable.

Tammy Nobles has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the Biden Department of Homeland Security as well as against the Department of Health and Human Services for allegedly violating their own policies and setting the stage for Hamilton's gruesome demise.

What's the background?

Blaze News previously reported that Hamilton's body was found in a mobile home at the Rancho Estates on E. Inca Street in Aberdeen on July 27, 2022, just days after her birthday. She had recently moved to the area from Norfolk, Virginia, with her 22-year-old boyfriend, who police have indicated had nothing to do with the crime.

The Maryland chief medical examiner determined that Hamilton's cause of death was strangulation.

The Aberdeen Police Department of Maryland announced on Jan. 19, 2023, that they had arrested a 17-year-old suspect in Edgewood, Maryland.

The suspected killer, identified as a person of interest early in the investigation, is a criminal noncitizen from El Salvador who has been living in the U.S. illegally since March 2022. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were able to verify that he was listed in his native country as a member of MS-13, according to the APD.

The Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division compared the MS-13 member's DNA with evidence recovered at the crime scene, delivering damning results. The suspect was ultimately indicted on 11 charges, including first- and second-degree murder, rape, robbery, assault and theft.

Hamilton's case is expected to begin in June.

A mother's grief

Tammy Nobles testified Thursday before the House Committee on Homeland Security during a hearing entitled, "Voices for the Victims: The Heartbreaking Reality of the Mayorkas Border Crisis." Holding back tears, the distraught mother underscored that if the U.S. had "stricter border policies, [her] daughter would still be alive today."

Nobles contrasted the joys of bringing her daughter into the world and raising her with the gut-punch of learning in 2022 that "Kayla Hamilton was murdered in her own room and left on the floor like trash."

"The illegal MS-13 known gang member brutally raped and murdered my daughter by strangling her with a cord and robbed her of $6.00," said Nobles. "During the attack Kayla called her boyfriend for help but went to voicemail. The voicemail of the murderer strangling Kayla was 2 minutes and 30 seconds long."

Nobles claimed that DHS employees failed to inspect the suspect by checking for gang-related tattoos when allowing him into the United States.

"Had DHS employees performed a visual inspection of the assailant's body, they would have seen MS-13 gang-related tattoos on his body, disqualifying him from entering the U.S.," said the grieving mother. "DHS employees failed to make a simple phone call to the El Salvador government to verify if assailant was on an MS-13 gang affiliation list. Had they done so, El Salvador government officials would have confirmed that the assailant was a known MS-13 gang member with a prior criminal history."

Nobles also blasted the DHHS, claiming its "operational neglect further sealed my daughter's fate."

According to Nobles, the DHHS bears some of the blame because it allegedly failed to place the suspect with a verified relative before allowing him into the country.

"DHHS' failures allowed the MS-13 gang member, as a minor, to rent a room in a trailer park from another individual who was also an illegal immigrant," said Nobles.

Nobles later noted that while she shared her pain and the story of Kayla's brutal murder during her testimony, "the Democrats were on their phones."

Accountability

Attorney Brian Claypool of the California-based Claypool Law Firm recently filed the case against the DHS and DHHS on Nobles' behalf, repeating the allegations the grieving mother made during her congressional testimony.

"This is a clear liability case. The U.S. Government owed Ms. Hamilton a special duty in light of her murderer having a criminal propensity shown by his arrest in his native El Salvador, and being a known MS-13 gang member in El Salvador," says the wrongful death complaint obtained by the Washington Examiner.

"Had DHS vetted the assailant according to policy, he would have been placed in a secure facility for criminal unaccompanied minors rather than being placed with an alleged first cousin whom he escaped from," continues the complaint. "At no time should assailant have been roaming free in Aberdeen."

Claypool told NewsNation, "We're bringing this lawsuit because we're tired of being held hostage in our own country. We're tired of DHS playing Russian roulette with our lives."

The Examiner indicated the DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

Over 300,000 foreign nationals reportedly entered the country illegally last month.

2.47 million, 2.37 million, and 1.73 million illegal aliens entered the U.S. in fiscal years 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively. Over the course of those three years, 436,257 unaccompanied minors reportedly came over the border.

There is no knowing what crimes foreign nationals who have successfully stolen past border officials may previously have committed. However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicated that there were 284 sexual offense convictions among those they managed to apprehend in fiscal year 2023. There were also 29 previous convictions among the arrestees for murder; 1,254 for assault or battery; 2,493 for drunk driving; 2,055 for drug charges; and 864 for burglary, robbery, theft or fraud.

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