An apparent domestic violence homicide in Sunnyvale in January has been politicized by Trump's Department of Homeland Security, as the agency is seizing on the fact that the suspects arrested were both Honduran nationals who had previously been deported.
The case of the January 7 murder of 24-year-old Kembery Chirinos-Flores has taken on new political overtones this week after the Department of Homeland Security has decided to make an example of the case.
After nearly a year in which federal agents have been rounding up and deporting non-violent immigrants who were undocumented, many of whom were seeking a legal path to residency or citizenship, DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis called out the Sunnyvale case in a press release, on account of the deportation history of the two suspects arrested in early March.
"These illegal aliens should have never been able to commit these horrific killings and must NEVER be released from jail into American communities," Bis says in a statement. "Instead of cooperating with ICE, Santa Clara sanctuary politicians REFUSED to honor ICE’s arrest detainer and will not notify ICE when these murderers are released from jail. This insanity of refusing to turn cold-blooded killers over to ICE must end."
It is inaccurate to say that law enforcement in sanctuary cities do not cooperate with ICE in the case of violent criminals, but that is what is being asserted here.
DHS contends that Gerzon Chirinos-Munguia, who fathered a child with Chirinos Flores, should have been handed over to ICE after two arrests for domestic battery in April 2018 and September 2019. Chirinos-Munguia was reportedly caught entering the country illegally in May 2015 and later deported, only to reenter the country once again. And ICE reportedly issued an arrest detainer for him after the domestic battery arrests, which DHS now says was not honored by Santa Clara County law enforcement — though the circumstances and reasons for this remain unknown.
Chirinos-Munguia is accused of killing Chrinos-Flores at the Plaza Del Rey mobile home park on Vienna Drive in Sunnyvale, where he was reportedly living. She was found fatally shot in her car, apparently after driving there from Mountain View.
Chirinos-Munguia was arrested two months later along with Alfonso Inestroza, aka Franquin Inestroza-Martinez, of Hollister. Inestroza-Martinez, also a Honduran national, was deported twice between 2013 and 2018, and he is accused in the March 2025 murder of 55-year-old Esteban Vicente Sacalxot in Trenton, New Jersey. At the time of his arrest last month, he was wanted on an outstanding warrant in New Jersey.
His suspected role in the killing of Chirinos Flores is not clear.
The DHS press release lumps Inestroza-Martinez with Chirinos-Munguia, saying, "Santa Clara County sanctuary politicians refused to honor ICE detainers on two criminal illegal aliens arrested for the murder of a 24-year-old single mother in California." However, there is no mention of any detainer request for Inestroza-Martinez, and it does not appear he was arrested for any previous crime before being linked to the New Jersey homicide.
Get ready for Trump to use this case an example of Radical Left politicians gone wild in an upcoming speech, and to further distort the details of the suspects histories.
Previously: Two Men Arrested, Including Ex-Boyfriend, In Sunnyvale Killing of Young Mother
