An illegal alien who killed a United States Marine Corps veteran in a drunk-driving crash walked out of an Illinois prison on November 2 after serving roughly 14 years — because sanctuary-state politicians refused to honor federal immigration detainers, and ICE had to hunt him down on its own.

Gregory Errol Homola, 55, was riding his motorcycle in Wauconda, Illinois, in July 2011 when Vicente Torres-Vasquez — a Mexican national with a blood alcohol level of 0.28%, more than three times the legal limit — plowed into him, killing the Marine veteran and injuring two women, one of whom was pregnant. Torres-Vasquez had already been ordered deported by a federal immigration judge eight months before the crash. He had been arrested four times for drunk driving before he finally killed a man. Nobody in the system did their job.

Torres-Vasquez first crossed the U.S.-Mexico border through Arizona in March 2004. He was caught twice and granted voluntary departure both times, then crossed a third time undetected by Border Patrol, according to Breitbart. A federal immigration judge ordered him deported in November 2010. Eight months later, he killed Homola.

Convicted in 2012 of aggravated DUI resulting in death and two counts of aggravated DUI resulting in great bodily injury, Torres-Vasquez was sentenced to prison. Breitbart reported the sentence as 25 years; the New York Post, citing local reporting at the time, put it at 18 years. Either way, Illinois paroled him well short of his full term.

ICE had lodged a detainer with the Illinois River Correctional Center in Canton in January 2017, according to DHS. When Torres-Vasquez was transferred to Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill in March ahead of his parole date, ICE lodged another detainer. Stateville refused to honor it and released him without notifying federal agents.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin didn't mince words: "When ICE lodged a detainer ahead of his release on parole, sanctuary politicians in J.B. Pritzker's Illinois refused to cooperate with us and released him without notifying ICE."

"Thankfully, the brave patriots of ICE managed to arrest this killer anyway, and he will now be deported from our country," Mullin continued. "These heartless sanctuary politicians need to stop prioritizing political power over the safety of their constituents. They owe it to the Angel Families to work with us so that we can prevent any more American lives from being lost to illegal alien crime."

ICE agents arrested Torres-Vasquez on November 11, nine days after his quiet release. He remains in federal custody pending deportation.

A federal judge ordered this man deported before he killed a Marine. Four prior drunk-driving arrests didn't stop him. A prison sentence didn't keep him locked up. And a sanctuary state let him walk rather than hand him to federal agents. The question isn't how this happened. The question is how many more Gregory Homolas there will be before the system is forced to change.