A Minnesota man charged with beheading his girlfriend is an illegal immigrant from Cuba who Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been unable to deport, the agency confirmed to Fox News on Thursday.
Alexis Saborit-Viltres is charged with second-degree murder in Shakopee, Minnesota, after he allegedly beheaded his girlfriend, America Mafalda Thayer, and dumped her body at an intersection in Shakopee in front of horrified witnesses.
(Alexis Saborit, 42, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder after a woman’s decapitated body was found in Shakopee, Minnesota. Shakopee Police Department)
Fox 9 reported that the witnesses “described seeing a car stop near the intersection and the driver, Saborit, swinging an object near the passenger door.” He then reportedly dragged what looked like a body out of the car and walked away from the scene.
ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer confirmed to Fox News that Saborit-Viltres is an illegal immigrant from Cuba with a lengthy violent criminal history, with multiple convictions in Minnesota and Louisiana for domestic abuse/assault battery, driving under the influence and fleeing a police officer.
“He has pending charges for first-degree arson-dwelling, first-degree criminal damage to property, and obstruct legal process-interfere with peace officer stemming from a 2020 arrest in Scott County, Minnesota; he also has pending charges for murder, second degree (2021) based on his recent local arrest, also in Scott County,” Neudauer said.
ICE had attempted to remove Saborit-Viltres to Cuba in 2012 and secured an order of removal against him from an immigration judge. However, Cuba would not accept him and would not provide travel documents. Saborit-Viltres’ immigration status was first reported by Power Line.
Meanwhile, ICE is limited by a 2001 Supreme Court decision for how long it can detain those who are subject to a deportation order to just six months. As a result, Saborit-Viltres was released back into the U.S. on an order of supervision in 2012, requiring he occasionally check in with an ICE office.
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An ICE official told Fox News that the Cuban national had initially entered the U.S. in 2007 across the southern border via El Paso.
Fox 9 reported that Saborit allegedly told police that he dated Thayer for a few years. Thayer reportedly told him that she wanted to break up and he allegedly told police that she had “gone too far.” Police say he admitted to killing her with a knife, the report said.
Fox News’ Edmund DeMarche and Paul Best contributed to this report.
