A shocking broad-day murder at a Florida gas station has reignited fierce debate over U.S. immigration policy, after authorities announced the arrest of an irregular Haitian migrant who had been ordered deported years before the killing. On August 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents partnered with the Fort Myers Police Department to take 38-year-old Rolbert Joachim into custody at a residence on Fort Myers’ Mango Street, just four days after the fatal attack.
The incident unfolded on April 3, when local first responders rushed to a 911 emergency call at a neighborhood gas station in Fort Myers. Surveillance footage from the location captured the unprovoked attack: Joachim first shattered the windshield of the victim’s parked vehicle, then approached the woman — identified locally as a 32-year-old mother of two — and struck her repeatedly in the head with a claw hammer in full view of other civilians at the station. First responders pronounced the victim dead at the scene, marking the end of an innocent life in what investigators have called a senseless, unprovoked homicide.
Once the FMPD identified Joachim as the primary suspect, the department requested operational support from ICE to track down the fugitive. The joint operation led to his arrest without incident on Mango Street, and a subsequent review of his immigration history uncovered a years-long paper trail that has drawn sharp criticism from top Homeland Security officials.
Records show Joachim first entered the United States at a southern border port of entry in August 2022, and was granted admission into the country under border policies implemented by the Biden administration. By the end of that same year, a federal immigration judge issued a final, enforceable deportation order requiring Joachim to leave U.S. territory immediately. However, the administration granted him Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a designation that allows eligible migrants from crisis-affected countries to remain and work in the U.S., that extended his stay until 2024. TPS had expired nearly two full years before the 2026 killing, yet Joachim remained in the country unlawfully.
Acting Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Lauren Bis, who has been a vocal critic of the administration’s border policies, framed the killing as a direct consequence of lax enforcement. “This illegal alien barbarically hit this woman in the head multiple times with a hammer. This heinous murderer was released into the country by the Biden administration. Not only did the Biden administration release him into the country, but they then gave him Temporary Protected Status. Their reckless immigration policies cost this woman her life,” Bis said in a statement following the arrest.
ICE officials confirmed that a formal detainer has been placed on Joachim, who is currently held at the Lee County Jail awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges. Agency spokespersons added that regardless of the outcome of his criminal trial, Joachim will be processed for deportation to Haiti immediately after his criminal case is concluded. The killing has already prompted renewed calls from congressional Republicans for sweeping reforms to TPS and border entry policies, with many arguing that long-standing enforcement backlogs and discretionary protections put dangerous criminals in positions to harm innocent U.S. residents.