President Donald Trump says the killing of Chandra Mouli Nagamallaiah in Dallas, Texas is a “terrible” crime and the result of immigration enforcement failures.
The Truth Social post names 37-year-old Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, a Cuban national with a history of arrests in the U.S. Trump says the crime was carried out by an “illegal alien from Cuba who should have never been in our country.”
Cobos-Martinez allegedly attacked Nagamallaiah with a machete at a downtown motel, stabbing and beheading him in front of his wife and son. Witnesses say the violence began after a dispute over a broken washing machine and a language barrier.
Yodanis Cobo-Martinez allegedly beheaded Chandra Mouli Nagamallaiah in Dallas (Google/Dallas County Jail)
Cobos-Martinez had a prior final order of removal to Cuba and was most recently held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Dallas before being released on an order of supervision on Jan. 13, 2025, during the Biden administration. The release occurred because Cuba declined to accept his return due to his criminal record, according to ICE. The issue is a recurring problem in U.S. immigration enforcement.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents look over lists of names and their hearing times and locations inside the Federal Plaza courthouse before making arrests on June 27, 2025, in New York. (Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump also praised Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi for “doing an incredible job” of strengthening enforcement, while vowing that offenders will face prosecution “to the fullest extent of the law.”
