A 29-year-old El Salvador citizen charged with first-degree murder in Leon County illegally entered the United States near Hidalgo, Texas, was ordered removed by an immigration judge in 2024 and has been identified as a suspected MS-13 gang member, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n
The new information from ICE, first reported locally by WCTV, provides additional details about the immigration history of Luis Eduardo Olla-Hernandez, who was arrested over the weekend following a homicide investigation in southwest Leon County.<\/p>\n
The Leon County Sheriff\u2019s Office said Olla-Hernandez was arrested and charged with first-degree murder following a homicide Saturday. Authorities have released few details about the circumstances surrounding the death.<\/p>\n
Olla-Hernandez was booked into the Leon County Detention Facility Sunday and ordered held without bond during his first court appearance Monday.<\/p>\n
ICE Detainer<\/p>\n
Court records obtained by Tallahassee Reports include a Department of Homeland Security immigration detainer issued Aug. 23.<\/p>\n
The document identifies Olla-Hernandez as a citizen of El Salvador and states that DHS determined there was probable cause to believe he is removable from the United States.<\/p>\n
The detainer cites pending removal proceedings, biometric confirmation of his identity, a check of federal databases and statements Olla-Hernandez made to immigration authorities and\/or other evidence as bases for that determination.<\/p>\n
A separate DHS document directs the Leon County Jail to detain Olla-Hernandez and states: \u201cHold for ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n
ICE provided additional information about Olla-Hernandez to WCTV on Monday.<\/p>\n
An ICE spokesperson told the television station that Olla-Hernandez illegally entered the United States near Hidalgo, Texas, and that an immigration judge ordered him removed in 2024.<\/p>\n
ICE also told WCTV that Olla-Hernandez has been identified as a suspected member of Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, which the federal government designated a foreign terrorist organization in 2025.<\/p>\n
The ICE detainer includes checked boxes indicating Olla-Hernandez is subject to detention provisions of the Laken Riley Act and is considered a member of a designated foreign terrorist organization and\/or a national security, border security or public safety risk.<\/p>\n
Previous Leon County Encounter<\/p>\n
Court records reviewed by Tallahassee Reports show Olla-Hernandez had an encounter with the Leon County Sheriff\u2019s Office in January 2024, the same year ICE says an immigration judge ordered him removed.<\/p>\n
According to an LCSO probable-cause affidavit, a deputy stopped Olla-Hernandez on Jan. 16, 2024, near West Tennessee Street and Aenon Church Road because a taillight was out.<\/p>\n
When the deputy asked Olla-Hernandez for his driver\u2019s license, Olla-Hernandez instead presented an El Salvador passport. According to the affidavit, Olla-Hernandez told the deputy that the passport gave him legal grounds to drive the vehicle.<\/p>\n
The deputy ran Olla-Hernandez through law-enforcement databases and discovered that he had a Florida driver\u2019s license that had been suspended on Oct. 16, 2023.<\/p>\n
According to the affidavit, Olla-Hernandez acknowledged that he knew his license was suspended and said he was driving because he did not have anyone else to drive him.<\/p>\n
The deputy issued Olla-Hernandez a criminal citation rather than booking him into jail.<\/p>\n
The traffic case was eventually amended to operating a motor vehicle without a valid license. Court records show Olla-Hernandez pleaded no contest in December 2024, with adjudication withheld.<\/p>\n
The January 2024 encounter is noteworthy because the deputy knew Olla-Hernandez was an El Salvador citizen and ran his information through law-enforcement databases. However, the probable-cause affidavit contains no indication that his immigration status was investigated or that federal immigration authorities were contacted.<\/p>\n
The record also does not establish whether Olla-Hernandez had already been ordered removed at the time of the traffic stop.<\/p>\n
Questions About 2024 Removal Order<\/p>\n
The timing of the immigration proceedings remains an important unanswered question.<\/p>\n
ICE told WCTV that an immigration judge ordered Olla-Hernandez removed in 2024, but the agency did not provide the date of the order in the information reported by WCTV.<\/p>\n
If the removal order occurred before the Jan. 16 traffic stop, Olla-Hernandez would have encountered LCSO after a judge had ordered him removed. If the order occurred later, the immigration information available to the deputy during the traffic stop could have been substantially different.<\/p>\n
There is another unresolved issue.<\/p>\n
The Aug. 23, 2026 ICE detainer obtained by Tallahassee Reports checks a box stating there are \u201congoing removal proceedings\u201d involving Olla-Hernandez. The form does not check the separate box indicating that a final order of removal exists.<\/p>\n
It is therefore unclear whether the 2024 removal order became final, was appealed, was reopened or was affected by subsequent immigration proceedings.<\/p>\n
The January 2024 LCSO affidavit also shows Olla-Hernandez previously possessed a Florida driver\u2019s license, although it had been suspended approximately three months before the traffic stop.<\/p>\n
The available records do not establish what Olla-Hernandez\u2019s immigration status was when Florida originally issued the license.<\/p>\n
Timeline<\/p>\n
Before October 2023: Olla-Hernandez obtains a Florida driver\u2019s license.<\/p>\n
Oct. 16, 2023: His Florida driver\u2019s license is suspended, according to the LCSO affidavit.<\/p>\n
Jan. 16, 2024: An LCSO deputy stops Olla-Hernandez in Leon County. He presents an El Salvador passport. The deputy runs his information through law-enforcement databases and issues him a criminal citation.<\/p>\n
2024: According to ICE, an immigration judge orders Olla-Hernandez removed from the United States. The exact date and subsequent status of that order remain unclear.<\/p>\n
Dec. 17, 2024: Olla-Hernandez resolves the Leon County driver\u2019s-license case with a no-contest plea.<\/p>\n
2025: The federal government designates MS-13 as a foreign terrorist organization.<\/p>\n
Aug. 22, 2026: LCSO begins investigating a homicide in southwest Leon County.<\/p>\n
Aug. 23, 2026: Olla-Hernandez is booked on a first-degree murder charge. DHS issues an immigration detainer and an order directing Leon County to hold him for ICE.<\/p>\n
Aug. 24, 2026: Olla-Hernandez appears in court and is ordered held without bond.<\/p>\n
The ICE detainer does not affect Olla-Hernandez\u2019s immediate custody status because he is already being held without bond on the murder charge.<\/p>\n
The homicide investigation remains active and ongoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 29-year-old El Salvador citizen charged with first-degree murder in Leon County illegally entered the United States near…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-380317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}