BS BULLETIN
- Honduran national Mauricio Josue Alberto Sarmiento is charged in the hit-and-run death of 51-year-old James Robert Bagley III in Sylva, North Carolina.
- DHS says Sarmiento illegally crossed the Texas border as an unaccompanied minor in 2021 and was later released to an unrelated sponsor.
- ICE has lodged a detainer asking local authorities to notify the agency before any release.
A North Carolina father is dead. A 21-year-old Honduran national who DHS says entered the United States illegally during the Biden administration is behind bars. And ICE is now asking local officials to make certain he doesn’t walk out of custody before federal immigration authorities can take action.
This illegal alien KILLED an American father in a hit-and-run in North Carolina.
ICE has lodged a detainer for the Honduran murderer, Mauricio Josue Alberto Sarmiento, who was RELEASED into our nation by the Biden Administration. We will stop at nothing to ensure he is NEVER… https://t.co/r1Lde7Al9t pic.twitter.com/Jr0vyWPZOv
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 18, 2026
The case began in the early hours of Aug. 2 in Sylva, North Carolina, where police found 51-year-old James Robert Bagley III unresponsive in the roadway on U.S. 23 Business near Sylva Plaza.
Police said Bagley had been struck by a vehicle whose driver left the scene.
Local reporting from Aug. 5, before a suspect had been publicly identified, confirmed that Bagley was discovered at approximately 2:46 a.m. and pronounced dead after first responders arrived. Authorities were then asking nearby businesses and residents for surveillance footage that could help identify the vehicle.
Five days after Bagley’s death, police announced the arrest of Mauricio Josue Alberto Sarmiento. According to police information reported by Fox News, Sarmiento now faces felony hit-and-run resulting in serious injury or death, driving with a revoked license, having no liability insurance, exceeding a safe speed and failing to reduce speed. Authorities also said he had an outstanding arrest order in Jackson County.
Federal authorities say there is another part of his history that began nearly five years before Bagley’s death.
DHS told Fox News that Sarmiento entered the United States illegally through Texas in October 2021 as an unaccompanied minor. Border Patrol apprehended him, according to the department, after which he was ultimately “reunified” with an unrelated sponsor and released into the country during the Biden administration.
ICE lodged a detainer with the Jackson County Jail on Aug. 7, the same day Sarmiento was arrested. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin is now asking Jackson County officials not to release Sarmiento without giving immigration authorities an opportunity to take custody. “We are asking officials in Jackson County to cooperate and not release this criminal from jail without notifying ICE,” Mullin told Fox News.
He then put the blame for the sequence of events squarely on the previous administration. “If it weren’t for the Biden Administration’s disastrous open borders, James Bagley would still be alive,” Mullin said.
And the charges raise another obvious question that has nothing to do with Washington’s immigration debate:
Why was Sarmiento allegedly driving at all? Police charged him with operating a vehicle with a revoked license and without liability insurance. If those allegations hold up, this wasn’t merely an immigration-enforcement failure. It would also mean someone authorities say wasn’t legally permitted to drive was nevertheless behind the wheel when Bagley was struck and left in the road.
Sylva Police Chief Aimee Sumner cautioned that the investigation remains active. Sarmiento’s arrest “represents a significant step forward in our investigation,” Sumner said, while emphasizing that “this case is not over.” “Our thoughts remain with the family and loved ones of James Bagley as they continue to cope with this tremendous loss,” she added.
Sarmiento remains in the Jackson County Detention Center. And that’s where the immigration issue returns.
An ICE detainer is a request that a jail alert federal immigration authorities before releasing a removable noncitizen so ICE can potentially assume custody. In this case, Sylva police told Fox that the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, which operates the detention center, would be the relevant agency concerning the federal detainer.
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
Fox News — Man found dead on street triggers ICE action after shocking hit-and-run
