A DHS spokesperson has publicly blamed the Biden administration’s border policies for a Sacramento woman’s death after her accused killer, an Indian national released on his own recognizance, shot himself during a police standoff.
Rohit Rohit, 22, entered U.S. Custody in August 2023 when Border Patrol agents arrested him near Yuma, Arizona, in an arid, remote stretch of desert. He was booked into an ICE staging facility in Florence, Arizona, then transferred to the agency’s processing center in Folkston, Georgia, a rural site near the Florida border that houses roughly 3,000 adult male non-citizens awaiting immigration proceedings or deportation.
Federal authorities released Rohit the following month, September 2023, in what immigration officials call “catch and release.” The Department of Homeland Security never heard from him again.
He made his way to California, where he met IHOP waitress Shalini Thakur, 38, through DoorDash pickups at her workplace. What began as acquaintance turned into months of stalking and terror, according to Sacramento Sheriff’s deputies who said they had been in contact with Thakur about Rohit’s harassment for months before her death.
Thakur obtained a restraining order against Rohit in July as his abuse and harassment worsened. He violated that order weeks later by visiting her home again.
On Tuesday, Rohit chased Thakur down outside a café and shot her. She stumbled into a parking lot, where he followed, stood over her, and fired again into her head at close range before speeding away.
A witness photographed his car and sent it to police, who spotted and stopped him seven minutes later on eastbound Highway 50, about two miles from the scene. Rohit engaged deputies in a standoff before shooting and killing himself in the vehicle.
Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper said rapid law enforcement action prevented further bloodshed.
“I believe that individual was headed somewhere else to do someone else harm,” Cooper said.
Thakur’s mother, Sudesh Kumari, addressed reporters in raw grief after her daughter’s death.
“I am alone in this world,” Kumari said.
“Restraining order after restraining order … police did not protect my daughter.”
Sheriff’s deputies had implored Thakur to get the restraining order she finally filed in July. She had reported Rohit to police at least twice before her killing.
California’s sanctuary state laws prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement, a barrier that could have led to Rohit’s detention or deportation following those earlier reports.
Former DHS spokeswoman Katie Zacharia said the agency erred in releasing Rohit rather than returning him to India.
“It is very typical with the Biden ‘catch and release,'” Zacharia said.
“These types of policies kill American citizens or put American citizens’ lives at risk in one way or another.”
“These are the types of individuals that ICE and the ERO should be removing and sending back to their home countries, and yet you get so much pushback from governors like Gavin Newsom,” she added.
Federal officials say it remains unclear how Rohit came to be in Mexico or how he was caught attempting to cross into the U.S. From there.
A DHS spokesperson delivered a blistering statement tying Thakur’s death directly to the administration’s border practices.
“This tragedy would have been completely avoided if it weren’t for the Biden administration releasing this killer into our country,” the spokesperson said.
“Sanctuary politicians must put an end to reckless policies that play Russian roulette with American lives.”