U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported a Jamaican national convicted of murder in New York, more than a decade after the fatal shooting of a Bronx resident.
ICE confirmed that Kemar Hamilton was removed to Jamaica on Jan. 8 following the completion of his prison sentence. Hamilton had been convicted in connection with the 2009 killing of Edgar McCalla, a 58-year-old Jamaican immigrant and father of seven.
McCalla was shot during a robbery outside his Bronx home on Feb. 19, 2009. Authorities said the gunman fled the scene, leaving behind a prepaid cellphone that initially yielded no DNA match. The case later went cold.
Investigators got a break in 2011 when Hamilton was stopped for a traffic violation and officers discovered a loaded firearm in his vehicle. He was arrested, and subsequent forensic testing matched his DNA to evidence recovered from the cellphone left at the murder scene.
Hamilton had entered the United States in 2008 and was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol agents shortly after arrival. He was released pending immigration proceedings with a notice to appear in court. An immigration judge ordered him removed on Dec. 23, 2009.
He was later sentenced in New York to more than a decade in prison for the homicide.
ICE officers in Buffalo took Hamilton into custody on Oct. 6, 2025, upon his release from the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York, to prevent his return to the community and to carry out the removal order.
In a statement, ICE Deputy Director Charles Wall said the deportation underscores the agency’s enforcement priorities and credited local law enforcement and prosecutors for securing the conviction.
Hamilton has since been returned to Jamaica.