Houston Sheriff still shielding killer’s record

Houston authorities declined this week to open up their case files on Victor Reyes, a Mexican national with a long criminal record whose 2015 shooting spree killed two and wounded three before he was killed by a police officer.

The move by Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman highlights the veil of secrecy hanging over the files of foreign nationals convicted of crimes — including the so-called “worst of the worst” that immigration authorities say remain a primary focus for deportation.

Reyes had been removed from the country four times. Federal authorities have also declined to release the deceased killer's full immigration history file to The Texas Tribune. One of Reyes’ shooting victims, John Weston of Houston, recently told the Tribune that his family “never got any satisfactory answer” from government authorities about Reyes, who shot him in the face and left him seriously injured.

“It was almost like it was top-secret information,” he said. Continue…

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