DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — ICE now has a hold on a man accused of hitting and killing an 8-year-old girl. But the victim’s mother wants to know why it wasn’t done before.
Jose Alejandro Cuahuizo-Varela is accused of driving under the influence when he hit and killed 8-year-old Maryah Johnson.
Earlier this year, Cuahuizo-Varela was in custody for a previous case with similar charges. Now, Maryah’s mother, Latazamisha Nunn, wants to know why he wasn’t detained by ICE then.
“I have to live with that and think about that. She would tell me that every day,” Nunn said.
Nunn was frankly mad as she stood outside the DeKalb County Courthouse on Tuesday, wearing the same suit she wore to her daughter’s funeral. She was also holding her remains.
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“Now, I have to have her right here in an urn. If ICE would’ve done its job in the first place and picked him up, my daughter wouldn’t be in this type of predicament,” Nunn said.
Nunn wants to know why the man accused of driving under the influence when he hit the family’s car on Peachtree Industrial and killed Maryah in September was on the streets when the crash happened.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced on Tuesday that it has now filed an immigration detainer against Cuahuizo-Varela, saying in a statement that Cuahuizo-Varela “illegally entered the United States” and went on to say, “the detainer ensures Cuahuizo-Varela will be transferred to ICE custody upon his release from local law enforcement.”
But at the time of Maryah’s death, Cuahuizo-Varela was out on bond, accused of DUI and hit-and-run from a 2023 case in Brookhaven. He was indicted on that case earlier this year, arrested again, and posted a bond.
“If you all retrieved him the first time it happened and he sent three people to the hospital, my daughter would still be alive right here,” Nunn said.
For Nunn, it’s another hit to a mother already in the trenches.
“I try to hold it in, but it’s just hard,” Nunn said.
ICE didn’t respond to questions about why an immigration detainer wasn’t filed earlier this year. The suspect’s attorney also had no comment.
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