REVEALED: The suspect who raided Democrat Katie Hobbs’ headquarters is an illegal Portuguese migrant on the run after being released on bail: the Arizona candidate initially blamed Republican rival Kari Lake
- The prime suspect who robbed Katie Hobbs’ campaign headquarters is in the US illegally, according to immigration officials
- Daniel Mota Dos Reis, 36, is a homeless illegal immigrant who originally came to the country in 2018 as a “registered student,” police say
- Mota was arrested for a series of burglaries and later identified as the man in surveillance footage of the burglary at Hobbs’ office building
- According to ICE, Mota is “at large on immigration violation charges for failing to maintain his status as an enrolled student.”
- Hobbs originally blamed Republican gubernatorial opponent Kari Lake’s rhetoric for the crime
Daniel Mota Dos Reis, 36, is an illegal immigrant and the prime suspect in the burglary and burglary at Democrat Katie Hobbs’ campaign headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona
The suspect who broke into Katie Hobbs’ Arizona campaign headquarters is an illegal immigrant, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
A federal immigration official told Phoenix 12News that Daniel Mota Dos Reis, 36, is a Portuguese citizen who overstayed his student visa and is now violating the “conditions of his admission” to the United States
Police responded to a break-in and break-in Tuesday at Hobbs’ campaign offices in Phoenix.
Mota was caught by security cameras in the offices on Monday wearing a green shirt and gray shorts and carrying a backpack.
He was arrested for criminal trespassing and burglary.
According to Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, public affairs officer at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Mota “is currently at large on charges of immigration violations because he is unable to maintain his status as an enrolled student at an academic institution.”
ICE notes that Mota was released on bail before an immigration detainee could be issued.
Surveillance footage shows Mota, who police say is homeless, walking through the office building that houses Hobbs’ headquarters. According to ICE, Mota is “currently at large on immigration violation charges related to his inability to maintain his status as an enrolled student at an academic institution.”
Arizona is one of the states hardest hit by the southern border crisis as thousands of migrants enter the state bordering Mexico daily.
Hobbs, who is currently Arizona Secretary of State, blamed the rhetoric of her Republican opponent Kari Lake for the slump. It’s unclear if Mota’s break-in was politically motivated.
Lake referred to it as the “Jussie Smollett Part Two,” suggesting that Hobbs inflated or faked the entire incident to distract from the razor-thin election results.
The TV reporter-turned-Republican gubernatorial nominee topped Hobbs in the polls in early October after months of consistently polling the Democrat 5-7 points higher. The decline likely stems from Hobbs’ refusal to debate Lake ahead of Election Day on Nov. 8.
A FiveThirtyEight average now shows Lake Hobbs ahead by 2.6 percent, with just days until the 2022 midterm.
First, Hobbs blamed the rhetoric of Republican gubernatorial opponent Kari Lake for the break-in and suggested it was a politically motivated incident
Lake dubbed Hobbs’ reaction to the slump “Jussie Smollett Part Two,” implying that she puffed it up to distract from her decline in the polls after refusing to debate with Lake
Phoenix Police say Mota is homeless and is accused of breaking into at least two different office suites in a Phoenix complex on three separate occasions between October 22 and 25. One of the offices is Hobbs’ campaign headquarters.
On Wednesday morning, October 26, Mots ran from officers and pushed a 60-year-old female security guard to the ground before he was arrested, police said.
Mota had burglary tools and a new camera in his backpack at the time of the arrest.
It was not initially known that Mota was connected to the burglary at Hobbs’ office. When a patrol officer saw the news on October 26, she saw surveillance footage from Hobbs’ office and recognized the picture of Mota from the earlier arrest.
Mota originally came to the US in 2018 as an undergraduate student but stayed too long and now finds himself in the US without legal status.
He has previous convictions for assault and shoplifting
Figures released this month show that Customs and Border Protection encountered a record 2.37 million migrants in fiscal year 2022