Trump amplified the graphic footage to denounce what he called a 'massively abused and fraudulent program,' referring to Temporary Protected Status. ' The Department of Homeland Security stated that the suspected attacker was released in 2022 by the Biden administration and given Temporary Protected Status. DHS also said Joachin had been granted Temporary Protected Status that expired in 2024.
According to DHS, Joachin confessed to the murder and will be deported regardless of the investigation's outcome, though the exact timeline and current status of his TPS remain unclear. m. on April 2 notifying them that a woman had been hit with a hammer.
' A police report said the woman was pronounced dead on the scene. A witness told police he saw a man holding a mallet and a knife striking a black SUV. Rolbert Joachin, 40, is in custody and accused by authorities of killing the woman during an interaction at a gas station in Fort Myers.
According to a Fort Myers Police Department spokesperson, the attack was 'targeted,' and while the victim did not know Joachin, the two 'had a previous encounter,' though the exact nature of that encounter has not been disclosed. Gruesome video of the interaction, also shared online by the Department of Homeland Security, shows a man repeatedly hitting the hood and sides of a car parked in the gas station’s parking lot with an object – an apparent hammer – in his hand. A woman is seen exiting the store and approaching the man, appearing to speak to him, and the man turns and walks toward her, according to the video, which is then lightly blurred due to the graphic nature of the attack.
He immediately strikes the woman in the head with the object in his right hand, forcing her to fall backward onto the store’s sidewalk. He is then seen striking her another six times on her head and torso before walking over her body and away from the scene. The video was originally surfaced by Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin on Tuesday, according to multiple reports.
Without regard for the process delineated by Congress.
The distressing video of the murder was first posted on social media earlier on Thursday by DHS, which slightly blurred the violent attack, multiple reports indicate. How the video originally surfaced, and the sequence of events from its capture to its posting by DHS and sharing by Trump, remains unclear. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement helped Fort Myers Police Department haul in Rolbert Joachin, a Haitian illegal migrant, according to DHS.
Joachin was taken into custody 'after an extensive coordinated manhunt,' according to Fort Myers Police Chief Jason Fields. ' The victim, whose name is being withheld by police due to Marsy’s Law, was working as a store clerk at the gas station, according to research. Nilufa Easmin was a devoted mother of two daughters, and a GoFundMe campaign has been launched to support her children, multiple reports indicate.
Specific details of the GoFundMe campaign, such as its goal and current progress, have not been confirmed. Trump has been trying to foment hatred of Haitians given temporary shelter in the US since his 2024 campaign, according to multiple reports. Trump’s amplification of the video is the latest in a yearslong campaign to use certain killings as apparent evidence for stricter border enforcement, according to research.
This pattern includes previous instances where he has leveraged violent crimes for political messaging on immigration. Trump falsely accused Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, of 'eating the pets of the people that live there,' according to Trump. The baseless conspiracy theory about Haitian immigrants eating pets was first popularized by JD Vance, multiple reports indicate.
These claims are part of a broader narrative Trump has promoted regarding immigrants from Haiti and other nations. On Wednesday, US district judge Brian Murphy blocked a move by the Trump administration to end TPS for 5,000 Ethiopians, multiple reports indicate. DHS said in December that Ethiopia 'no longer met the conditions' for TPS designation and protections would expire on February 13.
A tragic moment and an awful time and an awful reason to come together.
According to DHS, the stay by Judge Murphy is an example of judicial activists trying to prevent Trump from restoring integrity to immigration. ' Acting Assistant Secretary for DHS, Lauren Bis, said the murderer was released into the country by the Biden administration. This assertion aligns with DHS's earlier statements about Joachin's release in 2022, though specific immigration status or legal proceedings that led to his release have not been detailed.
The administration's efforts to remove TPS from Haitians and other immigrants have been blocked by multiple courts, according to multiple reports. These legal challenges highlight ongoing disputes over immigration policy and the status of individuals under Temporary Protected Status programs. In his State of the Union address, Trump introduced the mother of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian woman murdered in North Carolina, and dwelled on gory images, according to multiple reports.
Trump falsely described the North Carolina-born man arrested for killing Zarutska as an immigrant, according to Trump. This example illustrates Trump's history of using murder victims in political messaging to advance his immigration agenda. Unanswered questions persist about the attack, including what specific immigration status or legal proceedings led to Joachin's release in 2022, and whether there are details on his criminal or immigration history prior to this incident.
The current legal status of Joachin's Temporary Protected Status, and how it relates to his potential deportation as stated by DHS, also remains unclear. The implications for immigration policy and political discourse are significant, as the incident has reignited debates over Temporary Protected Status and border enforcement. Trump's use of graphic content to criticize policies may influence public opinion and legislative actions, while legal battles over TPS removals continue in courts.
The broader context of Trump's campaign against Haitian immigrants adds to the polarized nature of immigration discussions in the US.