U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has submitted an immigration detainer requesting that Miami-Dade County authorities keep a Guatemalan national in custody following a hit-and-run crash that left a 74-year-old woman in critical condition.
The request involves Tomas Reymundo Brito, who entered the United States illegally, according to federal officials.
Reports state that the incident happened on the morning of Aug. 2. The victim, 74-year-old Geraldine Byrd, had stopped her vehicle to open her driveway gate when a truck struck her car from behind. The impact caused Byrd’s vehicle to spin and hit her. The truck then moved forward, struck Byrd again, and trapped her underneath before the driver exited the vehicle and fled on foot.
Byrd was transported to a local hospital in critical condition and remains on life support.
Police arrested Brito shortly after the crash. Arresting officers reported that Brito admitted to consuming alcohol prior to the collision. He was charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury and driving without a license.
ICE lodged the detainer with the Miami-Dade Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on the day of Brito’s arrest.
In a statement released by the Department of Homeland Security, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin addressed the case and the federal request.
“This criminal illegal alien from Guatemala is charged with hit-and-run after a drunk-driving accident that sent a 74-year-old woman to the hospital in critical condition in Miami-Dade County,” Mullin said. “He should have never been allowed in our communities or on our streets. ICE is asking officials in Miami-Dade County to cooperate with us and not release this criminal from jail, and to turn him over to ICE custody so we can remove him from our country. Thanks to the strong leadership of President Donald Trump, ICE is unleashed to go after criminal illegal aliens like this one so that we can make America safe again.”
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