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Illegal immigrant accused of murdering wife in Texas just weeks after marriage, ICE fights release

04 Apr 2026 By foxnews

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently lodged a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer pleading with Texas authorities not to release an illegal immigrant accused of fatally slitting his wife's throat with a pocketknife in Dallas.

Francisco Mendez-Marin, a 24-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, was arrested March 18 by the Carrolton Police Department and is charged with felony homicide after he allegedly killed his wife, 20-year-old Karla Rangel, during a domestic dispute.

The couple had been married for less than a month, FOX 4 Dallas reported.

When police arrived at the scene, Mendez-Marin had blood on his clothes and a bloody pocketknife on him, officials said.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CONFESSES TO 2 COLD-BLOODED MURDERS MONTHS APART: REPORT

Body camera footage shows Mendez-Marin telling officers, "I didn't do anything bad" and "I was obligated to do it" in Spanish, according to the arrest affidavit.

"This depraved animal murdered his own wife just one month after they were married by brutally slitting her throat with a pocketknife," DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis wrote in a statement. "This illegal alien should have never been allowed into our country to commit this heinous murder."

"ICE requested authorities in Dallas to not release this cold-blooded killer onto the streets," she continued. "Thankfully, Dallas politicians cooperate with ICE, so together we can ensure this murderer is NEVER loose in American communities."

Mendez-Marin is currently in Dallas County Sheriff's Office custody and being held in the Dallas County Jail, according to DHS.