Immigration officers say they have arrested an undocumented man previously convicted of killing a pedestrian with his car just south of Arlington.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced yesterday (Wednesday) that it had detained Alvaro Alejandro Pacheco Ramos, described by ICE as “an illegally present Salvadoran alien.”
Pacheco Ramos pleaded guilty last year to the involuntary manslaughter of a 71-year-old California woman while driving drunk on May 22, 2023.
The incident took place on the 4800 block of King Street, in Alexandria but within the jurisdiction of the Arlington County Police Department.
Pacheco Ramos, a Maryland resident, was found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.159, well above the legal limit of 0.08, according to a statement of facts. He had a green light and the victim was not in a designated crossing area.
“Mr. Pacheco Ramos did not see [the victim] walking across the roadway until it was too late,” the statement of facts states. “He attempted to swerve left into the oncoming traffic lanes to avoid striking her, but his maneuver was unsuccessful.”
Pacheco Ramos admitted to striking the woman, who was on vacation with her husband, and throwing her into oncoming traffic lanes. He ran over her while coming to a stop, court documents say.
The victim died at the hospital shortly after the crash.
Pacheco Ramos, who told officers that he had been drinking at a bar in Falls Church, is recorded as using his passport as an ID.
Just a few months before the incident, in December 2022, the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office had announced that it was ending voluntary cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Arlington County Board had also approved a policy limiting police cooperation with ICE in July 2022.
Pacheco Ramos was sentenced to eight months of active incarceration, plus nine years and four months of suspended time and five years of probation, according to online court records.
Since President Donald Trump took office, ICE has presented itself as focusing on undocumented immigrants accused or convicted of serious crimes, in an attempt to deport “the worst of the worst.”
However, between Oct. 1 and the start of Fiscal Year 2025, 65% of people detained by ICE had no criminal convictions, according to the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. Only about 7% of ICE book-ins had ever been convicted of violent crimes.
