The suspect in the shooting of a Fort Myers police officer has yet go before a judge in the case, as he is still in the hospital recovering from an injury. This week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has filed a detainer hold on Wismer Desmaret, claiming he is a Haitian national in the U.S. illegally.
Desmaret has been arrested in Lee County eleven times on charges ranging from drug possession, disorderly conduct and burglary. He's suspected in Saturday's shooting of Officer Adam Jobbers-Miller, who is being treated for a gunshot wound to the head at Lee Memorial Hospital, where Desmaret is also being treated.
Desmaret has never been convicted on any of his previous charges, likely due to lack of evidence. But now that he's the main suspect in the shooting charge, ICE may have to wait quite a while before they can detain him - maybe years.
"Once he's done serving (any potential) criminal sentence, that is when ICE will take custody of him," said Indera DeMine, a Fort Myers-based immigration attorney.
She said that if Desmaret is eventually deported, a charge like shooting an officer would make it difficult, if not impossible, for him to re-enter the country.
"Someone like this person who is accused of a serious crime...I don't anticipate that he will get an immigration bond once he's transferred over," DeMine said.
She said that in the unlikely event Desmaret is released on bond, ICE would be given 48 hours of notice to take him into custody.
