SF Mass Murder Suspect Dodged Deportation

Vietnam refused to take Binh Thai Luc back in 2006
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 27, 2012 2:48 AM CDT
Updated Mar 27, 2012 3:04 AM CDT
SF Mass Murder Suspect Dodged Deportation
Binh Thai Luc, 35, is being held on suspicion of five counts of murder.   (AP Photo/San Francisco Police Dept.)

The man accused of the brutal murder of five people in San Francisco was only in America because his native Vietnam refused to take him back, the San Francisco Chronicle finds. After Binh Thai Luc served nearly a decade in prison for the 1996 robbery of a Chinese restaurant in San Jose, he was ordered deported in 2006. But Vietnam refused to provide travel documents, and he was released in the US under the terms of a 2001 Supreme Court ruling.

The controversial ruling states that undocumented immigrants must be released within six months if their country of origin won't take them back. Luc, 35, continued to report to federal immigration authorities after his release, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman. "Unfortunately, there are some countries that are very difficult to remove people to, and Vietnam is one of those countries," he says. "We had to follow the ruling." (More Binh Thai Luc stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X