A man who entered the U.S. through a federal immigration program has been arrested in Texas for the murder of a 25-year-old woman in Cleveland, Tennessee, according to authorities.
Dayren Roque Lopez, 41, originally from Cuba, was arrested on Monday in Zavala County, Texas, after a multistate manhunt. He is accused of killing Dayana Garcia, whose body was found in a home in Cleveland, Tennessee, on Sunday.
The Cleveland Police Department discovered Garcia’s body while searching a home on Northcrest Circle after she was reported missing.
Lopez fled Tennessee but was caught by Zavala County Sheriff’s deputies after they were alerted to his vehicle. They found his 2008 brown Toyota Corolla with Tennessee plates in La Pryor, Texas, and made a felony traffic stop to arrest him.
Sources confirmed that Lopez entered the U.S. on August 5, 2023, through San Ysidro, California, using the CBP One app, which handles certain immigration processes. His court hearing was scheduled for November in Memphis.
Despite a past domestic violence incident in February, Lopez was allowed to stay in the U.S. because there was no conviction, officials said.
Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee criticized the situation, saying Lopez entered the country due to failed border policies.
The U.S. Border Patrol has reported an increase in encounters with people on the terror watchlist, with 172 cases in 2023, up from 100 in 2022 and 16 in 2021. The watchlist includes known or suspected terrorists and their associates.
At least 99 individuals on the FBI terror watchlist illegally entered the U.S. and were released after being caught by border agents in the last year, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security.
In June 2024, President Joe Biden announced new executive actions to limit migrant crossings, aiming to keep daily border encounters below 2,500 for a week to help the Border Patrol manage the situation.
President Biden also clarified his use of executive powers, explaining that he was acting because Congress had failed to pass a bipartisan immigration deal.