U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is moving to take custody of Ulises Raigoza-Martinez, a Mexican national whom authorities say entered the United States illegally through Texas in 2021 during the Biden administration and later killed a Nashville restaurant owner.
Following his guilty plea and sentencing Tuesday to decades in prison, ICE filed an immigration detainer for Raigoza-Martinez, asking Tennessee officials to alert the agency before he is released so federal officers can assume custody and begin removal proceedings, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The case began with a June 19, 2024, confrontation outside Smokin’ Thighs, a Nashville restaurant, where investigators said Raigoza-Martinez had stopped in the parking lot to steal tools from owner Matt Carney’s pickup truck.
Matt Carney, the owner of Nashville restaurant Smokin’ Thighs, died on July 4, 2024, after authorities said he was hit by a vehicle while confronting a man accused of taking tools from his pickup truck. (DHS)
Authorities said Carney, 42, went outside to confront the suspected thief, but Raigoza-Martinez drove off and struck him. Carney was thrown onto the hood of the vehicle before being hurled to the pavement when Raigoza-Martinez turned, investigators said.
Carney was critically injured and died at a Nashville hospital on July 4, 2024.
Raigoza-Martinez was arrested in South Nashville on July 18, 2024. Two years later, on July 22, 2026, 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.
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Ulises Raigoza-Martinez pleaded guilty to murder, theft over $10,000, tampering with evidence and theft over $2,500 in connection with the death of Nashville restaurant owner Matt Carney. He received a 20-year prison sentence. (DHS)
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.
FILE – ICE is seeking custody of the suspect after he serves his prison sentence for the killing. (Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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.
