In a case that highlights the agency’s commitment to removing violent criminals, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the deportation of a Jamaican national convicted of murdering a father of seven in New York—delivering justice in a decade-old cold case.
On Feb. 25, 2026, ICE officials announced that Kemar Hamilton – a convicted murderer in the U.S. illegally – had been removed to Jamaica. Hamilton, who entered the United States illegally in 2008, was finally convicted and brought to justice for the 2009 murder of Edgar McCalla, which had run cold.
COLD CASE MURDERER DEPORTED
In 2009, Kemar Hamilton, a Jamaican criminal illegal alien, murdered a 58-year-old Jamaican immigrant father of seven in Bronx, NY — the victim had been shot outside his own home during a mugging.
Hamilton fled the scene.
While Hamilton hid from… pic.twitter.com/wBT8tU1vM3
— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) February 24, 2026
McCalla, a 58-year-old father of seven was gunned down during a robbery outside his home in New York City’s Bronx on Feb. 19, 2009. Hamilton, who had fled the scene, left behind a prepaid cellphone, but initial efforts yielded no DNA or fingerprint matches due to Hamilton’s illegal entry, and the case went cold.
According to case documents, a breakthrough was made in the case during a 2012 routine traffic stop. Hamilton, who was pulled over for a traffic violation, was found with an unpermitted, loaded firearm in his vehicle. He was arrested, fingerprinted and subsequent testing – including DNA – linked him to the prepaid cellphone and the murder scene.
“I commend local law enforcement for breaking this murder case and the prosecutors for securing a conviction, but the truth is, Kemar Hamilton should have never been in this country in the first place,” ICE Deputy Director Charles Wall said in the release.
“We’ve said it over and over: Enforcing immigration law protects Americans — and it protects our immigrant communities. This criminal crossed our border illegally, then went on to murder a father of seven from his own home nation.”
Hamilton illegally entered the United States in 2008. U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended him shortly after, but released him on his own recognizance with a notice to appear in immigration court. About 13 months after his entry — and roughly a year after the illegal crossing — he killed McCalla, leaving seven children without a father.
While Hamilton evaded justice, immigration authorities continued to process his removal, and on Dec. 23, 2009 an immigration judge ordered him to be removed. However, a New York judge sentenced him to more than a decade in prison following the 2012 arrest and conviction.
Upon his release from the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York, ICE officers took Hamilton into custody on Oct. 6, 2025—enforcing the Immigration Law Judge’s order, and preventing his release back into the community.
The case highlights ICE’s focus on removing the worst of the worst from the United States, keeping both American citizens and immigrant communities safe.
