DHS to Deport Haitian National Accused of Killing Woman at Florida Gas Station

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on April 7 that a Haitian illegal immigrant accused of killing a woman outside a Florida gas station last week has been arrested and will face deportation.

The suspect, identified as Rolbert Joachin, allegedly smashed the victim’s car windshield and used a hammer to bludgeon her to death outside the gas station on April 3. Authorities said the victim, whose name has not been disclosed, was a mother and worked as a store clerk at the station.

DHS said the Fort Myers Police Department arrested Joachin on Mango Street in Fort Myers, Florida, with assistance from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“This illegal alien barbarically hit this woman in the head multiple times with a hammer,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement, blaming the Biden administration’s immigration policies for allowing him to enter the country.

According to DHS, Joachin entered the United States in August 2022 and was released into the country under the Biden administration, which granted him temporary protected status—a humanitarian program that allows individuals from countries affected by armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary events to stay in the United States.

The department said a federal judge had issued a final removal order against Joachin that same year, but he was given temporary protected status, which lapsed in 2024.

President Donald Trump said that his administration has sought to end temporary protected status for immigrants from Haiti and other nations, but those efforts were blocked by district court judges.

Trump said the program has been “massively abused” and that Joachin’s murder case should serve as an example of why judges should stop impeding his immigration policies.

“Please say a prayer for this innocent woman’s family. We will ensure quick and severe justice is served in this case,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post.

DHS said that ICE has placed a detainer on Joachin and is set to deport him “regardless of the outcome” of the case.

It remains unclear whether Joachin has been assigned legal representation at the time of writing.

The Obama administration first gave the temporary protected status (TPS) designation to Haiti in 2010 after the country was hit by a devastating earthquake. The country-specific designation was extended in subsequent years.

More than 330,000 Haitians were living in the United States under TPS as of March 2025, according to the National Immigration Forum.

DHS announced last year that it was planning to end protected status for Haitian nationals after determining that conditions in Haiti no longer warranted the designation, but the move was blocked by court rulings.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case this month following the Department of Justice’s request on March 11 to allow it to end protected status for Haitian nationals.

Matthew Vadum contributed to this report.