U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking to take custody of a Mexican national accused by authorities of entering the United States unlawfully through Texas in 2021 and later killing a Nashville restaurant owner.
Following his guilty plea and sentencing Tuesday to a lengthy prison term, ICE filed an immigration detainer for Ulises Raigoza-Martinez, asking Tennessee officials to alert the agency before he is released so federal authorities can assume custody and begin removal proceedings, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The case began with a June 19, 2024, incident outside Smokin’ Thighs, a Nashville restaurant where investigators say Raigoza-Martinez stopped in the parking lot and stole tools from owner Matt Carney’s pickup truck.
Carney, 42, went outside to confront the person taking the tools, and Raigoza-Martinez drove off, hitting him with the vehicle, authorities said.
Investigators said Carney was thrown onto the hood before being tossed to the ground when Raigoza-Martinez turned the vehicle.
Carney was critically injured in the encounter and died at a Nashville hospital on July 4, 2024.
Raigoza-Martinez was arrested by police in South Nashville on July 18, 2024.
On July 22, 2026, two years after the deadly incident, he pleaded guilty to murder, theft over $10,000, tampering with evidence and theft over $2,500, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said Raigoza-Martinez “should NEVER have been in our country to commit this heinous murder.”
“We will work with our state and local partners in Tennessee to ensure that he is handed over to ICE custody once his sentence is complete, so that we can remove him from our country,” Bis said.
If Tennessee officials honor the ICE detainer, federal immigration authorities will take custody of Raigoza-Martinez after he completes his prison sentence so he can be placed into removal proceedings and deported.
