Biden Border Policies Enable Haitian Murder at Michigan Plant
A Haitian national released under Biden's border policies fatally stabbed his 21-year-old coworker at a Michigan pork processing plant. DHS officials link the killing to the administration's immigration approach.
Brandon Eduardo Velasquez Chavez was 21 years old and boning pork loins at his Coldwater, Michigan, plant when a coworker chased him down the production floor and stabbed him in the back.
Velasquez Chavez bled to death at the scene on June 29. His killer, Valmir Djempsley, 20, had entered the United States illegally through Texas in 2024 and carried a prior deportation order. Acting DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis traced the tragedy directly to Washington.
"If it weren't for the reckless open border policies of the Biden Administration, this criminal never would have been in our country in the first place and his victim would still be alive."
Djempsley and Velasquez Chavez worked side by side at Clemens Food Group. The two men clashed over a work-issued knife. Multiple employees watched Djempsley pull the blade and plunge it into Velasquez Chavez's lower back. Djempsley later claimed Velasquez Chavez tried to head-butt him, but no witnesses backed that version.
Coldwater Public Safety Director Joe Scheid told WWMT the plant identifies knives by number and assigns them to workers. A dispute over one of those numbered tools escalated into a fatal confrontation.
Emergency crews arrived at 7:41 p.m. Paramedics fought to save Velasquez Chavez but could not stop the bleeding. Police secured the knife at the scene and arrested Djempsley. Authorities booked him at approximately 1 a.m. on a charge of willful killing.
Branch County Prosecutor Victor Fitz confirmed Djempsley "appeared to have a prior deportation order from Texas" from 2024. Despite that immigration violation, Djempsley held work authorization at the time of the murder and continued showing up to the meat plant each day.
District Magistrate Val White denied bond at Djempsley's July 1 arraignment. The magistrate cited danger to the public and flight risk. Djempsley pleaded not guilty to open murder, a life felony, and broke down in tears during the hearing, which proceeded with an online translator. Public Defender Matt Glazer represents Djempsley and confirmed his client lived with family in Coldwater.
ICE lodged a detainer on July 1, asking Michigan authorities to hold Djempsley for federal custody and deportation proceedings. The request sets up a direct test of state cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
Bis returned to the case publicly on July 8 with unmistakable force. "This illegal alien barbarically stabbed his coworker to death," she said. "This murderer was released into American communities by the Biden Administration."
Prosecutor Fitz described the stabbing as "the most serious violation known to humankind." He noted Djempsley was supposed to be on his best behavior given his immigration status. Instead, he took another human life.
Fitz vowed to demand the maximum sentence if a conviction follows. "If he's found guilty, then we would expect there would be a sentence and we would be really demanding that that full sentence be served, whatever that might be," Fitz said. "After that, deportation is pursued."
The Coldwater killing echoes a pattern of violence involving Haitian nationals released under previous administration border policies. On July 1, Michael Bon, a Haitian illegal immigrant released in July 2024, killed Pennsylvania State Trooper Michael E. Pahira Jr., 44, in a semi-truck crash on Interstate 81. Bon had somehow obtained a commercial driver's license from Massachusetts before his parole was terminated in June 2025.
Months earlier, in April 2026, Rolbert Joachin, a Haitian national with Temporary Protected Status, allegedly bludgeoned Bangladeshi mother Nilufa Easmin to death with a hammer at a Fort Myers, Florida, convenience store. Joachin confessed to the crime. DHS records show an ICE detainer was lodged against him.
Djempsley faces a probable cause hearing today and a preliminary examination July 16. Clemens Food Group issued a statement offering condolences and confirming cooperation with investigators.
Brandon Eduardo Velasquez Chavez's family lost a son who never made it home from a Tuesday shift. His killers immigration record tells a story of a system that let him in, let him work, and let him stay after a prior deportation order. Bis said the reckless border policies of the Biden Administration put him there in the first place. Velasquez Chavez is the newest name in a growing list of American victims who never saw the violence coming.