The Colombian immigrant accused of killing his Queens landlady over a rent dispute was allowed into the US as an unaccompanied minor — and the victim’s outraged sister says authorities kept it quiet until it was too late. It is not done.
Dewey Vidal, 20, crossed the border illegally into San Luis, Arizona, in June 2022, when he was 17, and was allowed to remain in the country as an unaccompanied minor – one of the rarest of underage immigrants. Standard practices, which are freely available in the country. “Human reasons.”
Vidal, who told authorities she had an aunt in Wisconsin, was scheduled to go to an immigration hearing after being granted leave, with a date set for early next year, the sources said.
But on December 7, 2023, Vidal was still free when he allegedly got into a rent dispute with his landlord, Zoraida Leo, 55, and attacked her. He was left to die inside his building at 96th Street near Northern Boulevard in East Elmhurst, police said.
That’s when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took the migrant into custody.
“He is a migrant who crossed the border illegally,” Maria Leo, the victim’s sister and a naturalized citizen of the Dominican Republic, told The Post. “How is it that the federal government let this criminal go, just because he killed an innocent woman – my sister. Vidal is a murderer.
“This person should be given the harshest punishment under the law,” he said. “After serving his time here, he should be deported immediately so he can never harm anyone here again.”
Maria Leo said that Vidal’s immigration status was never mentioned when Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced the murder indictment against Vidal.
Worse, federal law enforcement sources eventually confirmed that the accused killer immigrant was captured at the border and released before allegedly committing murder in the Big Apple.
Maria Leon also provided The Post with a copy of the defendant’s Colombian passport.
Meanwhile, the city Department of Corrections, which declined to comment, lists an “INS warrant” for Vidal.
New York City has a sanctuary law that prevents local officials from honoring deportation orders from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office except in specific circumstances.
Vidal’s attorney did not return calls seeking comment.
The immigrant is being held in Rikers Island without bail on murder charges.
Vidal’s situation has recently been revealed amid other crimes committed by immigrants in the country illegally – including one Rape of 5 year old girl On Long Island by a Honduran citizen and a Chilean citizen who shot his girlfriend and her two sons, kill one of the boys In the city of Somers, Westchester County.
“He is one of those immigrants who came here to do wrong and he killed my sister. I want justice for my sister! I don’t know what is happening in the matter. I’m sad and mad,” Maria Leo said. “I want the border to be secure. “Many people coming here are engaged in criminal activities and killing people.”
Zoraida, who owned a two-story home in East Elmhurst, left behind four children and seven siblings.
Maria Leo said she was not aware that Vidal had an aunt in Wisconsin, but said he had two other aunts who lived on Long Island – and he was living with one of them.
However, Maria Leo claimed that the aunt’s husband ran away after the migrant was found smoking and she was thrown out of the house. He further added that that is when he rented a Queens apartment and his aunt had vowed to pay the rent.
But the aunt reneges on the arrangement, leaving Vidal to live rent-free and spend his days smoking marijuana – until Zoraida Leo has a meltdown and tells her she is being kicked out, her grieving sister. Said.
Hiram Monserrate, the Democratic district leader and former councilman and state senator in East Elmhurst, visited the family to pay their respects after they reached him.
“They’re looking for answers,” Monserrate said. “This was a heinous crime that occurred in our community.”
Zoraida Leo was active in her local church, a member of a local women’s rights group and caring for her ailing 85-year-old mother, Adelaida Guzmán.
“There are a lot of people in the community who knew him and loved him,” Monserrate said. “There is no doubt that we need better border security. Zoraida helped the boy and he killed her.
“The defendant was convicted and remanded,” a spokesperson for DA Katz told The Post. The case is progressing at a normal pace.”
The DA’s office declined to comment about what they knew about Vidal’s immigration status.
ICE officials did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
John Feare, who served as a senior adviser to the ICE director under President Donald Trump, said it’s not surprising that victims’ families are left in the dark about crimes committed by immigrants.
Feere, who worked with the agency from 2017 to 2020, said she helped create a victim advocacy office within ICE, but it was eliminated after President Joe Biden took office.
“We saw the same scenario with other victims. This is more clear evidence that sanctuary jurisdictions are a clear magnet for illegal immigration. It creates a lot of chaos and it brings us persecution,” said Feere, who is currently the director of investigations for the Center for Immigration Studies.
Feere said the DA’s office may or may not know about Vidal’s immigration status.
“If they’re not interested in disclosing this information then it’s not on their radar,” he said.
(TagstoTranslate)Metro(T)US News(T)Politics(T)Crime(T)Hiram Monserrate(T)Illegal Immigrants(T)Melinda Katz(T)Immigrant(T)Queens
