ICE arrests man in NC on Guatemala murder charge. He’s been deported three times
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a fugitive from Central America who was deported from the United States three times previously and charged with murder, according to court records.
ICE agents based out of Charlotte arrested Jose Luis Can Yat in Greensboro on Dec. 4, a complaint filed in federal court said.
Law enforcement has been looking for Can since September 2020, when international police issued an alert after he was charged with murdering a woman in his home country of Guatemala, the filing said.
A task force of two ICE agents, a deputy U.S. Marshal and “several” Homeland Security special response agents in marked gear made the arrest this month, according to the filing.
The filing said that around 9 a.m. on Dec. 4 the agents saw Can and a woman leave a house in Greensboro and get into a 1996 Nissan Altima and drive down the road. Agents turned on their emergency lights behind Can, the filing said, but he did not pull over.
The agents started to box him in, it said, but he sped up and hit the rear of one of the cars. When Can abruptly stopped the car later, an agent hit it. Agents drew their guns and surrounded him, the filing said.
“I’m done, I’m done,” he reportedly said, later telling agents that he got scared and fled when they tried to box him in.
He’s been charged in North Carolina with forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing and impeding someone carrying out official duties.
In Charlotte, “verifiers” who followed United States Border Patrol agents during Operation Charlotte’s Web and documented their activities reported being boxed in by agents, too. Anti-ICE and -Border Patrol activists in Charlotte have faced the same charge as Can. Attorneys here have called those cases unusual.
Homeland Security Investigations said in its filing that Can was last deported from the U.S. on May 4, 2021.
In a social media post on Dec. 10, ICE said that he buried the woman he allegedly killed in her own yard.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.