Illegal Confusion: Sorto could have been deported

11:48 PM CST on Monday, November 10, 2003

By Jeremy Rogalski / 11 news

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HOUSTON -- We could learn Tuesday whether a man convicted of murder in the East End killings will die by lethal injection or spend life behind bars.

The punishment phase for Walter Sorto reconvenes Tuesday. But critics are asking why the killer was even allowed in the country at the time of the heinous slayings.

Even before his capital murder trial began, Walter Alexander Sorto was no stranger to crime. But the El Salvadoran illegal alien apparently was a stranger to immigration authorities. "Surprise surprise, because the INS had very aggressively gone after what they call criminal aliens,” said Ernesto Rodriguez.

Ernesto Rodriguez is co-director of the Center for Immigration Research at the University of Houston. He says in the late 1990s the feds were rounding up illegal aliens by the thousands, even for small crimes. "I know of people who were deported after being picked up for jaywalking and were found to be here illegally," said Rodriguez.

In Sorto's case it wasn't jaywalking.

Nearly two years before the murders of two East End waitresses he pleaded guilty to armed robbery, which is a felony. He was sentenced to ten years probation.

Because of that aggravated offense Sorto was eligible for deportation back to El Salvador. So why did he remain in Houston. Immigration officials said no one told them he was an illegal alien.

"Disgust, outrage and great sympathy for the families," said Diane Clements, a crime victims’ advocate for Justice for All.

She said while relatives of those killed wait to hear Sorto's punishment, "They will always say what if, what if the state had done its job, “ said Clements. ”What if INS had done its job."

Questions asked by another: Would they even be here mourning the loss of loved ones at their killer's trial?