(NewsNation) — A man who entered the U.S. through a federal immigration program has been arrested in Texas for the murder of a 25-year-old woman in Cleveland, Tennessee, authorities said.
Dayren Roque Lopez, 41, from Cuba, was apprehended Monday in Zavala County, Texas, following a multistate manhunt. He is accused of killing Dayana Garcia, whose body was found in a Cleveland residence Sunday.
Cleveland Police Department officials said they discovered Garcia’s body while executing a search warrant at 315 Northcrest Circle after receiving a missing person report.
Lopez, who had fled Tennessee, was captured by Zavala County Sheriff’s deputies after they received an alert to be on the lookout for his vehicle. Deputies located a 2008 brown Toyota Corolla with Tennessee plates and conducted a felony traffic stop in La Pryor, Texas.
Sources confirmed to NewsNation that Lopez entered the U.S. on August 5, 2023, through San Ysidro, California, using the CBP One app, a mobile application for certain immigration processes. His scheduled immigration court hearing was set for November in Memphis.
Despite a previous domestic violence incident in February, Lopez was allowed to remain in the U.S. as there was no conviction, authorities said.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., reacted to the arrest, saying Lopez entered because of failed border policy.
The number of encounters with people on terror watchlists has gone up over the years.
The U.S. Border Patrol reported 172 such encounters in fiscal year 2023, up from 100 in 2022 and 16 in 2021. The watchlists include known or suspected terrorists as well as their associates.
At least 99 people from the FBI terror watchlist crossed into the country illegally and were released after being apprehended by border agents last year, according to Department of Homeland Security data obtained by the House Judiciary Committee.
In June 2024, President Joe Biden released a series of executive actions capping migrant crossing until border encounters remain consistently low — under 2,500 per day for an entire week — in an effort to give Border Patrol more time to handle each migrant’s situation.
The president also clarified his use of executive powers, saying he was doing what Congress would not about a bipartisan immigration deal that failed in the Senate after Trump urged GOP lawmakers to vote against it.
NewsNation’s Anna Kutz contributed to this report.