The federal government is pointing directly at a California county’s sanctuary policies after two men in the country illegally were arrested for the alleged murder of a young mother — and records show the immigration system had multiple prior chances to remove them.
The Department of Homeland Security released a blistering statement Friday, placing responsibility squarely on Santa Clara County for declining to honor ICE detainer requests tied to both suspects now accused of killing Kembery Chirinos-Flores, a 24-year-old mother shot and killed with a shotgun in early January.
Her 5-year-old son — whose father is one of the two men charged — was unharmed and has since been placed in the custody of child protective services, according to CBS News.
Both men charged in Chirinos-Flores’ death are Honduran nationals with documented histories of criminal activity and prior contact with U.S. law enforcement.
Gerzon Jose Chirinos-Munguia is the father of Chirinos-Flores’ young son. His criminal record in California includes a 2018 arrest for battery and false imprisonment, followed by a 2019 arrest for domestic battery and making criminal threats with intent to terrorize. According to DHS, he was released back into the community following both arrests without ICE ever being notified.
Franquin Inestroza-Martinez, the alleged accomplice, had an even more extensive enforcement history. He was deported from the United States in 2013 and again in 2018. He subsequently re-entered the country illegally at an undetermined time. At the time of Chirinos-Flores’ alleged murder, Inestroza-Martinez was already wanted in New Jersey on a homicide charge — accused of killing a 55-year-old man in March 2025.
DHS: Sanctuary Policies Created a Deadly Gap
DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis did not mince words in her statement to Fox News Digital.
“A man lost his life, and a child is now without a mother. These illegal aliens should have never been able to commit these horrific killings and must NEVER be released from jail into American communities,” Bis said.
She directed her sharpest criticism at Santa Clara County’s refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities — a stance the county maintains in compliance with California’s California Value Act (CVA).
“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,” Bis added. “This insanity of refusing to turn cold-blooded killers over to ICE must end.”
The California Value Act, signed into law in 2017, was enacted in direct response to immigration enforcement priorities during President Donald Trump’s first term. The law prohibits local police from inquiring about a suspect’s immigration status and places strict limits on coordination between local authorities and federal immigration agents.
The Trump administration challenged the CVA through federal litigation between 2017 and 2018, but the suit was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. An appeal also failed, and the Supreme Court declined to take up the case in 2020 — leaving the law intact.
Santa Clara County’s sanctuary posture flows directly from that legal framework — a fact DHS argues has now contributed to a preventable tragedy.
Who Kembery Chirinos-Flores Was
Amid the political and legal debate, law enforcement officials paused to put a human face on the case.
“Kembery was in the prime of her life,” said Santa Clara Department of Public Safety Chief Dan Pistor at a press briefing following the arrests. “She was working two jobs, and she was the loving mother of a 5-year-old son.”
Her son — whose father now stands accused of her murder — has been left without either parent present in his life.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Santa Clara County Board President for comment but did not receive a response.
The Chirinos-Flores case arrives amid a string of high-profile incidents in which individuals with prior criminal records and immigration violations have gone on to commit serious crimes — reigniting a national debate over the limits and consequences of sanctuary policies.
DHS has made the enforcement of ICE detainer compliance a central front in its immigration strategy, arguing that local refusals to honor detainers create dangerous gaps that allow repeat offenders to remain in communities where they can cause further harm.
Whether Santa Clara County — or California more broadly — faces any legal or federal funding consequences for its sanctuary posture in this case remains to be determined. What is not in dispute is that a young mother is dead, her child is in state care, and federal officials say it did not have to happen this way.
The death of Kembery Chirinos-Flores has become the latest flashpoint in the long-running and deeply polarizing conflict between federal immigration enforcement and California’s sanctuary framework. DHS is using the case to press its argument that detainer refusals have direct, deadly consequences — while Santa Clara County has not publicly engaged with those accusations. At the center of it all is a 5-year-old boy who no longer has his mother. The legal and political arguments will continue. For him, the consequences are already permanent.
