U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lodged a detainer for Carlos Suarez Contreras, an illegal alien from Venezuela, who is charged with driving without a valid license and causing the death of 82-year-old Deborah Murphy in a Florida grocery store parking lot.
The incident occurred on May 17 in Panama City Beach, Florida, when Suarez Contreras allegedly backed his vehicle into Ms. Murphy, who was walking in a crosswalk outside a Publix. Both Suarez Contreras and his passenger, Luis Sanabria Perez, were determined to be in the country illegally.
Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said, "This senseless tragedy was 100% preventable because these illegal aliens should have NEVER been in the country. One death at the hands of an illegal alien is one too many." Bis added that ICE has asked Florida officials to transfer Suarez Contreras to ICE custody for removal from the country.
Suarez Contreras was arrested by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office on May 17, with ICE lodging the detainer the following day. He was initially encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in November 2021 near Blythe, California, and subsequently released into the country. The passenger, Luis Sanabria Perez, also from Venezuela, was removed from the country after his Temporary Protected Status (TPS), granted in June 2022, was terminated in November 2025.