Sisters Shot Dead the Day After Thanksgiving, Suspected Illegal Immigrant Charged

A police tape in a file photo. (Dreamstime/TNS)

A man suspected of being an illegal immigrant is accused of murdering two sisters and shooting his daughter in a crime that has shocked the Dallas, Texas, area and has further amplified calls for border security.

Jose Santiago Chairez, 50, was booked into the Dallas County jail on a charge of capital murder of multiple persons and an aggravated assault causing bodily injury to a family member, according to law enforcement.

Jose Santiago Chairez was booked at Dallas County jail. (Dallas County Jail System)

Mr. Chairez was given a more than $2 million bond but also has an immigration hold that will prevent him from being released, according to the jail log obtained by the Dallas Morning Star. 

Law enforcement discovered the bodies of sisters Catalina Valdez Andrade, 47, and Merced Andrade Bailon, 43, after responding to a call at 4:20 a.m. on Nov. 24 in the Farmer’s Branch area near Dallas. Both had been fatally shot in the head. Mr. Chairez’s daughter was also found at the home and had been shot in her arm. She had told officers her father shot her and the sisters.

Farmer’s Branch Officer Steve Rutherford told the Epoch Times that it was shortly after arriving at the gruesome scene when officers made the arrest of Mr. Chairez.

“Officers responded to the residents and unfortunately the event resulted in the loss of two lives,” said Mr. Rutherford. “The suspect was apprehended the same day.”

Mr. Rutherford said he couldn’t discuss the immigration status or past criminal record of Mr. Chairez, but that all relevant information would later be made public.

“This is an ongoing investigation, but it will all be available,” said Mr. Rutherford.

Police have yet to state a possible motive for the deadly shooting, however news of the double homicide raised the temperature on the ongoing debate in Texas over the hot-button issues of illegal immigration and border security.

Illegal Immigration and Crime

Major cities across the longhorn state have seen a recent spike in crime.

While a public breakdown of crimes revealing what percentage of offenses have been committed by illegal immigrants isn’t available in Texas, the perception exists among many—including political leaders—that a strong correlation exists between the number of people breaking the law to enter the country and the rise in crime that has followed.

In Austin, Texas, car thefts have soared to near record highs. In the month of October 2023, a report compiled by the Austin Police Department showed there were 575 auto thefts, up from 403 during the same period in 2022, which represents a 43 percent increase.

In Dallas, the city’s murder rate has increased over 13 percent from the previous year, according to law enforcement.

“We’ve had our challenges this year,” Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said at the city council’s public safety committee in November. “Particularly with murder being higher than it was last year.”

For decades, outrage over a porous southern border has been growing. Large numbers of illegal immigrants continuing to stream into the nation has led many Americans to their boiling point. Further, the problem appears to be growing worse. Federal agents encountered nearly 2.5 million migrants at the southern border in fiscal year 2023, which ended in September, breaking the record set in 2022, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

Since March of 2022 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has taken a series of actions to combat the surge, including sending troopers to the 1,200-mile-long Texas–Mexico border to apprehend people crossing the Rio Grande. In May, Mr. Abbott increased Texas’s border security measures with the deployment of hundreds of Texas National Guard soldiers to join the thousands already on the ground as part of Operation Lone Star.

Earlier this week during Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Mr. Abbott appeared to have further ramped up security, telling host Maria Bartiromo that Texas is on the verge of making the act of illegally crossing the border a state crime and will soon be allowing its officers to make arrests of non-citizens in the state.

“I'll be signing a law in Texas that will make it illegal for people to enter the state of Texas from another country illegally, and authorizing every peace officer to arrest those people entering our country illegally,” said Mr. Abbott.

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told the Senate committee on border security that such legislation could lead to about 72,000 arrests statewide per year.

Border issues have been a focus for Republican lawmakers and candidates as well as President Donald Trump, who is seeking reelection in 2024. GOP lawmakers have said that it’s because of the Biden administration’s border policies that illegal immigration has increased, as has the crime rate.

During a November campaign stop at the border town of Edinburg, Texas, President Trump received Mr. Abbott’s endorsement for president before promising that his hardline immigration policies in a second presidential term would make the state safer.

“We just need the walls. And it worked,” President Trump said.