Report: Man tied to Steinle case to be deported
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to deport a Mexican citizen who was acquitted in the high-profile 2015 killing of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, the New York Times reported.
Jose Inez Garcia Zarate, who is undocumented, was acquitted by a jury in 2017 of murder and manslaughter charges but convicted of being a felon in possession of a gun.
The trial drew national attention and was used by politicians as a talking point in immigration debates.
Steinle, 32, was fatally shot while walking along Pier 14 with her father.
According to Garcia Zarate’s attorneys, he found a gun along the waterfront and accidentally fired it — causing the bullet to ricochet off the pavement, striking Steinle in the back. The gun was stolen from a federal Bureau of Land Management ranger’s car.
Garcia Zarate’s gun conviction was later overturned by a court of appeal in 2019.
Garcia Zarate remained in prison for federal probation violations until February, the New York Times reported. In mid-February, Garcia Zarate was transferred to
ICE custody, and the agency plans to deport him to central or southern Mexico within the next week, an official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told the New York Times under the condition of anonymity.
Before the 2015 shooting, Garcia Zarate had been deported five times. He was in federal prison on a conviction of felony reentry into the United States but instead of deportation, he was brought to San Francisco, where he was wanted on a possession of marijuana charge.
That charge was dismissed and Garcia Zarate was released from custody under the city’s sanctuary policy, which limits local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration officials. Federal immigration officials had requested he remain detained until they could pick him up and were not notified of his release.
Former President Donald Trump used the case to criticize sanctuary cities.