The United States Department of Homeland Security announced on July 29 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer for Carlos Suarez Contreras, a Venezuelan national charged with driving without a valid license and causing the death of an 82-year-old woman in Panama City Beach, Florida.
According to local reporting, Suarez Contreras allegedly backed his vehicle into Deborah Murphy as she was walking back to her car outside a Publix grocery store on May 17. After striking Murphy, he reportedly continued reversing. Both Suarez Contreras and his front-seat passenger, Luis Sanabria Perez, were determined to be in the country illegally.
Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said, “This senseless tragedy was 100% preventable because these illegal aliens should have NEVER been in the country. One death at the hands of an illegal alien is one too many,” Bis also said, “Thanks to our law enforcement partners at the federal and local levels, the illegal alien responsible for this tragic death will now face justice for his crimes. ICE has lodged a detainer asking officials in Florida to turn this illegal alien over to ICE custody so that he can be removed from our country. Meanwhile, the illegal alien passenger, who was granted TPS by the Biden Administration, has since been removed from the country.”
Suarez Contreras was arrested by Bay County Sheriff’s Office on May 17; ICE lodged its detainer on May 18. He had previously been encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection near Blythe, California, in November 2021 before being released into the United States under current immigration policy.
Sanabria Perez entered as a temporary visitor in September 2019 with authorization until March 2020 but remained beyond that date. He applied for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in August 2021 and received it in June 2022 under President Biden’s administration; his TPS was terminated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on November 20, 2025. Sanabria Perez was removed from the United States on June 8.