A man accused of stabbing two people this spring outside an O鈥橣allon, Missouri, laundromat was an immigrant in the country illegally and had been arrested and released before, according to a new U.S. House Judiciary Committee report critical of immigration policies.
The report released Friday focuses on Jose Eucebio Barrera Amaya, charged with injuring two men on March 17 by stabbing them with a pocketknife outside the Highlander Laundry in O鈥橣allon.
Barrera Amaya, a Honduran national, has been in the country illegally since crossing the Mexican border, officials with the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement told police.
A St. Charles County judge in March set Berrera Amaya鈥檚 bond at $500,000 cash for two charges of first-degree assault and two counts of armed criminal action. He has been in custody since that time.
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The House Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement released a report critical of the Biden Administration鈥檚 immigration policies.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security first encountered him on the U.S.-Mexican border in December 2021 but he was turned away under pandemic-related . Berrera Amaya later crossed the southern border through Eagle Pass, Texas, the committee reports.
He was arrested last November by St. Charles County police for drunken conduct and fighting. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took custody of him, but Homeland Security ordered that he be released two days later, the Judiciary Committee鈥檚 staff report said.
A representative with Homeland Security did not return a message seeking comment Friday.
The federal office likely couldn鈥檛 remove him from the country under federal guidelines at the time because Barrera Amaya鈥檚 crime 鈥渄id not meet the high criminality threshold鈥 to make him a threat to public safety, the report said.
Barrera Amaya was given a February 2025 court date to determine if he should be expelled from the country after his November 2023 arrest for drunk and disorderly conduct and fighting. ICE released him from custody on the condition that he 鈥渘ot commit any crimes鈥 while out of jail. Authorities said he did anyway.
Surveillance videos show Barrera Amaya entering the laundromat in O鈥橣allon on March 17 and confronting his neighbor, police said. The two had argued the day before.
Barrera Amaya punched the neighbor in the head inside the laundromat, then followed him outside, police said. Barrera Amaya pulled a pocketknife and stabbed the neighbor as he tried to run away, according to charging documents.
The neighbor鈥檚 brother was stabbed in the back when he tried to intervene, police said.
Barrera Amaya drove away in a van, but police stopped the vehicle and arrested him. Police said Barrera Amaya admitted that he stabbed the two men.
U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, a Missouri Republican, said in a release that the O鈥橣allon attack 鈥渦nderscores the severe dangers these policies impose on our nation.鈥
The ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and two other Democrats on the panel could not be reached for their reaction to the report鈥檚 findings.
The committee鈥檚 interim staff report claims the Barrera Amaya case shows flaws in how Homeland Security performs vetting checks.
The nine-page report is the second this week to highlight what its authors see as lapses in border security and the numerous so-called 鈥済otaways,鈥 or people evading apprehension. The 鈥渙pen-borders, no-consequence immigration policies have allowed millions of illegal aliens to pour into the United States,鈥 the report said.
The first report this week, released Wednesday, focused on Daniel Hernandez-Martinez, a Venezuelan illegal migrant with suspected gang ties. It said he terrorized New York City, committing 22 crimes in six months.