Illegal Immigrant in Viral Police Shootout in U.S. Under DACA, ICE Says

The illegal immigrant whose shootout with an Arkansas sheriff’s deputy last week was caught on a dashboard cam and went viral was in the U.S. under the Obama-era DACA program, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Monday.

Luis Cobos-Cenobio, 29, faces charges of terrorism and attempted capital murder after a shooting spree that saw him open fire at on police during two separate confrontations as he tried to escape a routine traffic stop last week, authorities said.

Mr. Cobos-Cenobio had at least two previous arrests, officials said, including one misdemeanor charge in 2015 that brought him to ICE’s attention. But the Obama administration, which was in office at the time, concluded he wasn’t a danger, and declined to pursue deportation.

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ICE said Mr. Cobos-Cenobio also appears to have been arrested on another misdemeanor charge earlier this year, but the federal agency didn’t get notified, so it couldn’t place a detainer to effectuate his deportation.

In the latest incident the four-minute dashboard camera video shows a man being pulled over and, when he stops his car, he immediately steps out of the driver’s side and opens fire with a handgun.

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No police or deputies were wounded. Mr. Cobos-Cenobio was shot in the shoulder.

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“This is the kind of thing that happens when you don’t enforce standards,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director at the Center for Immigration Studies. “The idea that DACAs are all choir boys is obviously untrue, and yet the Obama administration was much too willing to let people with criminal records avoid deportation.”

Authorities arrested a spate of DACA recipients last year on charges of smuggling other illegal immigrants at the border.

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