Ex-Defendant in Slaying Faces INS Questions
A former Ventura gang member who was ordered released from jail after prosecutors decided not to retry him a third time on murder charges remained behind bars Tuesday on suspicion of being in the country illegally.
Mexico-born Ramiro Salgado, 23, will be picked up by federal Immigration and Naturalization Service agents this morning, authorities said, and transferred to a holding facility in Camarillo.
Federal authorities are trying to determine whether Salgado’s work visa has expired and whether he has any prior criminal convictions, Salgado’s defense lawyers said.
Federal authorities today will decide whether to schedule a deportation hearing. Pending that hearing, Salgado could be released on bail or held without bail.
Salgado, who has been in jail about two years, was charged in the 1999 beating death of a Ventura teen. Two mistrials were declared after juries were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
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