Mexico: Man held by ICE death suspect

LOS ANGELES — An immigrant in the U.S. illegally who was picked up while taking his wife to a hospital to give birth is the man wanted for a killing in Mexico, a Mexican government official said Monday after the man’s lawyer suggested authorities have the wrong person.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said over the weekend that Joel Arrona Lara was wanted on an arrest warrant in a homicide case in Mexico, but Arrona attorney Emilio Amaya Garcia said he is unaware of any warrant and has been unable to confirm it with the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles.

An official of the Mexican state of Guanajuato confirmed the warrant Monday. The official spoke anonymously but said it was an intentional homicide case akin to a U.S. murder charge. Mexican officials are prohibited by law from revealing criminal case details.

Arrona was detained last week while stopping for gas in San Bernardino. His wife, Maria del Carmen Venegas, had to drive herself to a scheduled C-section.

His client “denies any criminal history in Mexico and he is unaware of any criminal proceedings in Mexico in which he is named as a defendant,” Garcia told The Associated Press on Saturday. He said Monday that he still had not seen any court documents from Mexico.

Messages left Monday with the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles were not returned.

“For us, the issue is not so much the arrest, but the fact that ICE acted in total disregard for health and the well-being of the mother,” Garcia said.

Venegas said she and her husband came to the U.S. 12 years ago from Guanajuato state. They do not have legal authorization to live in the U.S., but all five of their children are U.S. citizens, she said.