WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) — The United States (US) Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) has confirmed the deportation of a Jamaican who was convicted of homicide in New York.

On Friday, ICE announced that Kemar Hamilton was convicted in 2012 for the killing of Edgar McCalla, a 58-year-old Jamaican immigrant and father of seven.

Authorities said McCalla was shot and killed during a robbery outside his Bronx home on February 19, 2009. The suspect fled the scene, leaving behind a prepaid cellphone. Investigators were initially unable to obtain a DNA match from the device, and the case eventually went cold.

Two years later, the investigation was revived when local police stopped Hamilton for a traffic violation and found a loaded firearm in his vehicle. He was taken into custody, and subsequent forensic testing revealed that his DNA matched evidence recovered from the cellphone left at the murder scene.

ICE Deputy Director Charles Wall praised law enforcement and prosecutors for securing the conviction but criticised past immigration enforcement practices.

“I commend local law enforcement for breaking this murder case and the prosecutors for securing a conviction, but the truth is, Kemar Hamilton should have never been in this country in the first place,” said Wall. “We’ve said it over and over: enforcing immigration law protects Americans — and it protects our immigrant communities.”

“This criminal crossed our border illegally, then went on to murder a father of seven from his own home nation,” he added.

According to ICE, Hamilton entered the country illegally in 2008 and was apprehended by US Border Patrol agents shortly afterwards. He was released pending immigration proceedings with a notice to appear in court, as was customary at the time. An immigration judge ordered his removal on December 23, 2009.

In 2012, a New York judge sentenced Hamilton to more than 10 years in prison for the homicide.

ICE officers in Buffalo, New York, took Hamilton into custody on October 6, 2025, immediately following his release from the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden to “prevent his release into the community and effect his removal”.