'Unaccompanied minor' migrant charged with vicious machete murder — ICE says he was shielded by sanctuary city policies

A migrant who came to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor has been charged in a vicious machete murder, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials blame sanctuary city policies.

"There are people getting arrested every day in this state that in many cases, we're aware of them, we put detainers on them, and they're ignored, and people get released, and they go on to commit other atrocious acts," explained ICE deputy regional enforcement director Bryan Wilcox.

20-year-old Carlos Iraheta-Vega came to the U.S. in 2016 from El Salvador. He was charged in the brutal murder of 16-year-old Juan Carlos Con Guzman.

The Mount Rainier High School student was hacked to death, dismembered and dumped into a river in September.

ICE officials say the grisly murder could have been avoided if local law enforcement officials weren't prevented from contacting them due to sanctuary city policies.

"This scenario, where sanctuary policies shield criminal aliens who prey on people in the community from immigration enforcement, is becoming all too common," ICE said in a statement to KIRO-7.

Iraheta-Vega was arrested in 2018 and twice again for DUI, but ICE was never notified about his release.

"As Iraheta-Vega's crimes increased in severity, local officials chose to release him, time and time again, without notification to ICE, a simple process that could have potentially prevented this crime," they added.

Here's a local news video about the charges:

VIDEO: Chilling new details in the murder of a Federal Way teenagerwww.youtube.com