Washington: US President Donald Trump has strongly condemned the beheading of an Indian-origin hotel manager allegedly by a Cuban illegal immigrant in Dallas last week. "The time for being soft on these illegal immigrant criminals is over under my watch," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Chandra Mouli Nagamallaiah, 50, was attacked with a machete by his co-worker Yordanis Cobos- Martinez in front of his wife and child, following a heated argument over a broken washing machine. The accused, who is now in custody, has been charged with murder.
Trump has long vowed tougher enforcement against undocumented migrants, making it a central plank of his policy. Trump said Cobos-Martinez "will be prosecuted to the fullest extent" of the law and will be "charged with murder in the first degree." He also criticised the Biden administration in his post saying Cobos-Martinez was previously arrested for several crimes, including alleged child abuse, but was "released back into society because Cuba declined to accept his return."
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Cobos-Martinez is an undocumented immigrant, with a final order of removal from the US. Nagamallaiah, who belonged to the Indian state of Karnataka, worked at the Downtown Suites Motel in Dallas.
The assault took place on 10 September. The police said they received a "stabbing" call and a preliminary investigation determined that Cobos-Martinez had cut the victim with an edged weapon several times. Nagamallaiah's funeral was held on 13 September in Flower Mound, Texas, and was attended by family and friends. A fundraiser launched to support his family has raised more than $321,000, according to a report.