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This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.

KPCC Archive

Skid Row police shooting update: ICE had ordered Robinet deported

A booking photo provided by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office of the man now known as Charly Keunang, but at the time went by Charly Robinet.
The Ventura County Sheriff's Office could not confirm the identity of the man who was shot and killed on Skid Row earlier this week (they deferred to the Los Angeles Police Department), but law enforcement officials have told KPCC he went by the name Charley Saturmin Robinet and was sentenced to 15 years in prison in connection with a bank robbery in Thousand Oaks in 2000. This February 2000 booking photo shows someone by that name who was charged in connection with the same bank robbery.
(
Ventura County Sheriff's Office
)

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According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the man known as Charley Saturmin Robinet was ordered deported in April 2013. But ICE officials say they weren't able to remove him from the country.

ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice in Los Angeles wrote in an emailed statement:

"Initially, ICE sought to obtain a travel document from French consular representatives based on the subject’s claims of French citizenship. French consular representatives initially issued one, but then rescinded it after determining the subject was, in fact, a national of Cameroon."

Kice said attempts to obtain travel documents from Cameroon went nowhere because "Cameroonian authorities repeatedly failed to respond to requests for a travel document."

According to Kice, Robinet was released from the agency's custody under an order of supervision in November 2013, which required him to check in with ICE agents periodically.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Zadvydas vs. Davis, factored into the decision. The ruling provides only a limited amount of time for immigration authorities to detain immigrants with a final deportation order if there is no country that will accept them.

"Per the Supreme Court ruling, after 180 days of detention, if the actual removal cannot occur within the reasonably foreseeable future, ICE must release the individual," Kice wrote.

According to Kice, Robinet complied with his supervision order and regularly reported to ICE officials as required. His next scheduled check-in date was to have been March 5.

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