ICE may deport man

An admitted gang member who was accused of stabbing a homeless man in Laguna Beach March 28 is still in Orange County Men’s Central Jail despite the district attorney’s decision not to charge him in the nonlethal stabbing case.

Virginia Kice, a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said Jimmy Alexander Riveracastro, who is also known by seven other aliases, is still being held because he is under investigation and will possibly be deported.

“We believe this person is potentially in this country illegally and deportable,” Kice said.

Kice declined to offer any information as to where ICE might send him.

According to district attorney spokesperson Farrah Emami, there are no other cases pending on Riveracastro or any of his other aliases.

When arrested, Riveracastro claimed to police that he belonged to the notoriously violent Central American gang, MS-13, Laguna Beach police allege.

The district attorney’s office determined there was evidence that the stabbing of a 49-year-old homeless man at the Laguna Beach bus depot was self-defense.

Riveracastro was arrested shortly after the incident on board a public bus leaving the city.