Trump Pledges Strong Response Following Beheading of Indian Motel Manager

US President Donald Trump has sharply condemned the beheading of an Indian-origin hotel manager, reportedly by a Cuban illegal immigrant in Dallas last week.

"The time for being soft on these Illegal Immigrant Criminals is OVER under my watch," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

The victim, 50-year-old Chandra Mouli Nagamallaiah, was struck by a co-worker, Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, with a machete in front of his wife and child after a bitter argument over a faulty washing machine. Cobos-Martinez, who is now in jail, has been charged with murder.

Trump has repeatedly advocated for tougher action against illegal migrants, and immigration enforcement has become a central plank of his policy agenda.

He said Cobos-Martinez "will be prosecuted to the fullest extent" of the law and will be charged with "charged with murder in the first degree."

Trump also faulted the Biden administration, pointing out that Cobos-Martinez had already been convicted of a criminal offense, alleged child abuse, but was "released back into society because Cuba refused to accept his return.

The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that Cobos-Martinez is an illegal immigrant with a final order of removal from the US. He was detained in a Dallas detention facility but released on an order of supervision in January after Cuba "would not accept him because of his criminal record."

Nagamallaiah, from Karnataka in southern India, was employed at the Downtown Suites Motel in Dallas. Nagamallaiah finished schooling and college in Bengaluru before he migrated to the US in 2018. His son graduated from high school recently and is set to enter college, says NDTV.

The assault took place on 10 September. Police received a "stabbing" call, and an initial probe found that Cobos-Martinez had beaten Nagamallaiah with a sharp object multiple times. He allegedly then kicked the victim's head "around like a soccer ball," as cited by the US Department of Homeland Security.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has booked Cobos-Martinez into the Dallas County Jail, where he is currently held.

Funeral of Nagamallaiah was conducted on 13 September in Flower Mound, Texas, by his family and friends. A fundraiser to assist his family that had been set up has collected more than $321,000 (£2,36,723), as per PTI news agency.