US President Donald Trump on Sunday condemned the beheading of Indian-origin motel manager Chandra Nagamallaiah in Dallas by his co-worker — a Cuban illegal immigrant — and said the accused would be charged with first-degree murder.
Nagamallaiah was killed in front of his family after a heated argument over a broken washing machine last Wednesday.
Trump’s remarks on Nagamallaiah’s murder came amid outrage in the Indian community in the US over the scant attention the crime has drawn from the American media and the political class.
In his post on Truth Social, Trump said: “I am aware of the terrible reports regarding the murder of Chandra Nagamallaiah, a well respected person in Dallas, Texas, who was brutally beheaded, in front of his wife and son, by an ILLEGAL ALIEN from Cuba who should have never been in our Country.
“This individual was previously arrested for terrible crimes, including child sex abuse, grand theft auto, and false imprisonment, but was released back into our Homeland under incompetent Joe Biden because Cuba did not want such an evil person in their
Country.”
The post added: “Rest assured, the time for being soft on these Illegal Immigrant Criminals is OVER under my watch! Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Border Czar Tom Homan, and many others in my Administration are doing an incredible job in MAKING AMERICA SAFE AGAIN. This criminal, who we have in custody, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law. He will be charged with murder in the first degree!”
Like Trump, who spoke on Nagamallaiah’s beheading four days later, Indian-American legislators, too, have been slow to respond to the gruesome incident.
Commenting on the murder three days later, US representative Ro Khanna said: “The brutal beheading of a hardworking Indian American immigrant in front of his wife & son is horrific. The murderer had multiple prior arrests for violent theft & child endangerment & was undocumented. He should not have been free on American streets.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran for the presidency last year on a Republican ticket, posted on the incident on Saturday.
“An innocent Dallas hotel manager was brutally beheaded in front of his wife & son by an illegal migrant who had a final order of removal & such a bad criminal history that Cuba refused to accept him. He was released on Jan 13, right before Biden left office. This is horrific. It’s time to restore the rule of law,” he wrote.
Hailing from Andhra Pradesh, 50-year-old Nagamallaiah had moved to the US in 2018. According to reports, he was killed with a machete by Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, who later threw his head in a dumpster. The entire incident was caught on asurveillance tape.
