Suspect in subway fire death was deported 6 years ago, only to find his way to NYC

The Guatemalan national charged Monday in the burning death of a woman on the F train in Brooklyn had been deported by the United States six years ago, only to re-enter the country at a later date, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Enforcement Agency.

Sebastian Zapeta, 33, who was removed by ICE to Guatemala on June 7, 2018, entered the United States on an unknown date and location and subsequently made his way to New York City, Jeff Carter, an ICE spokesman, said in a statement .

Zapeta now faces charges of first- and second-degree murder and arson in a case that has focused renewed attention on subway safety, illegal immigration and outreach to those in need in the subway system.

The woman who was killed in the attack has not yet been identified. NYPD officials said they were still trying to determine if she was sleeping on the subway and if she was homeless.

Authorities said a man set a woman on fire around 7:30 a.m. Sunday at the Stillwell Avenue station. The attacker allegedly ignited her clothes with a lighter, and the flames quickly spread through the subway car. Despite the efforts of officers and an MTA employee to extinguish the fire, the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said three “high school-age” students recognized the man from photos police released in the hours after the attack, leading to the arrest. Authorities said Zapeta was in possession of a lighter when he was arrested.

Little is known about Zapeta’s time in New York, but a spokesman for Mayor Eric Adams said Zapeta arrived before the influx of immigrants that began in the spring of 2022 and that he had been in and out of city-run shelters during it. time.

“Yes, this is a country of immigrants. It’s a country of those who want to seek to pursue the American dream. But those who violate that pursuit, we must immediately remove them from our country,” Adams said on Fox 5 Monday evening. . “After they serve their time, I’m not going to turn them back into a country just to have them sneak back in and the family members don’t get justice for what happened.”

According to authorities, Zapeta’s last known address was on Forbell Avenue in East New York, a location associated with a drug addiction treatment facility.

In light of reports that the accused had no serious criminal contact with police before Sunday’s violence, it is unlikely that he would have landed earlier on the radar of federal immigration enforcement officials.

New York’s so-called “sanctuary city” protections for immigrants who lack legal status largely prevent local officials from sharing information or otherwise cooperating with ICE officials unless a serious violent crime is involved, a court order has been secured and only after conviction.

Carter, the ICE spokesman, said federal enforcement and removal officers will file an immigration detainer request with the city to seek custody of Zapeta.

“They’re telling them that once this person goes through your criminal process and is convicted, then we’re interested, turn him over to us,” said Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow and director of the Migration Policy Institute office at New York University School of Law.

“This is such a clear case that there is no doubt that he will be extradited,” Chishti said. “This is not a gray area.”

But, he said, that would almost certainly only happen after a conviction.

“Unless the federal government is interested in just deporting people who haven’t even been convicted,” Chishti said. “Which would be extremely unusual.”

Chishti noted that the issue of crime committed by undocumented immigrants has played into local and national debates about immigration, regardless proof that immigrants are far less likely to commit crime than native residents.

But Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, a longtime community activist and Republican mayoral candidate who previously has criticized the city’s sanctuary protections and Adams’ handling of the migrant crisis, which has often linked illegal immigration to crime, downplayed any connection between the two in Sunday’s violence.

The problem, he said, was inadequate health care.

“Whether he should have been (in the U.S.) or shouldn’t have been here, when you set somebody on fire and you look like a pyromaniac while they’re burning and you seem to get a vicarious thrill, you’re a emotionally disturbed person,” Sliwa said.

He added: “The metro stations are full of emotionally disturbed people who need mental health care.

This story has been updated with new comments from Mayor Eric Adams.