An illegal immigrant from Haiti faces up to life in prison after police allege he stabbed a co-worker to death at a Coldwater meat processing facility last week.
Valmir Djempsley, 20, was arraigned on a count of open murder July 2 for the death of Brandon Vasquez-Chavez, 21, following a dispute at Clemons Food Group off Newton Road in Coldwater on June 29, WOOD reports. The incident occurred around 7:40 p.m., when witnesses allege Chavez and Djempsley got into an argument over a knife as they worked near each other in the loin boning area of the facility.
“This illegal alien barbarically stabbed his coworker to death,” Department of Homeland Security Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. “This murderer was released into American communities by the Biden Administration. If it weren’t for the reckless open border policies of the Biden Administration, this criminal never would have been in our country in the first place and his victim would still be alive.
“We have lodged a detainer asking Michigan to not release this dangerous criminal from jail without notifying ICE,” Bis said.
Witnesses told police Djempsley accused Chavez of using his knife, before chasing after him with a knife and lunging toward his back. Chavez then fell to the ground holding his side, witnesses said.
“From what I know right now, the knives are identified by the employees. They are given numbers, and they’re given to employees by that, and there was a dispute over a knife,” Coldwater Public Safety Director Joe Scheid told WWMT.
Chavez was unresponsive with a single stab wound on the left side of his lower back when first responders arrived, according to WOOD.
Both co-workers and medics attempted to save Chavez’s life, but were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
“You have a large industrial commercial operation, and you’re doing the best to try to save somebody’s life, and it’s a very challenging situation,” Scheid said.
During an interview through a translator after his arrest, Djempsley told police the two had an argument over Djempsley’s knife, and Chavez gave it back, then head-butted him. Djempsley claimed he swung at Chavez with the knife while walking toward him.
Witness statements did not support the claim about the head-butt, WOOD reports.
Djempsley gave officers a number identifying his knife, which officers recovered.
Djempsley pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and was denied bond.
“If he’s found guilty, then we would expect there would be a sentence and we would be really demanding that that full sentence be served, whatever that might be,” Branch County Prosecutor Victor Fitz told WWMT. “After that, deportation is pursued.”
“This is the most serious violation known to humankind,” he said. “He was supposed to be on his best behavior, but instead, he spilled the lifeblood of another human being.”
Djempsely was scheduled for a probable cause hearing on Thursday and a preliminary examination on July 16. Djempsley could face up to life in prison if convicted.
DHS lodged a detainer against Djempsely, who entered the U.S. illegally through Texas in 2024. The prosecutor’s office said Djempsley was in the U.S. on a work visa from Haiti.
The Haitian is among scores of illegal immigrants who have scammed, maimed, or killed Michiganders in recent years.
The meat plant murder followed just a few months after authorities allege illegal immigrant Richard Antonia Leon-Zghen killed 81-year-old George Fitzpatrick of Detroit in March during a head-on collision on westbound I-696.
Farmington Hills Police allege Leon-Zghen was driving the wrong way on the highway when the crash occurred, and he now faces a 15-year felony charge of reckless driving causing death.
In another high-profile case, Brandon Ortiz-Vite, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, shot and killed Grand Rapids’ Ruby Garcia during a dispute on southbound US-131, before dumping Garcia’s body on the highway and fleeing in her car. Ortiz-Vite was deported by the Trump administration during the president’s first term, before returning during the Biden administration.
Ortiz-Vite was sentenced to 39 years in prison in November 2024 after confessing to Garcia’s murder.
A “Worst of the Worst” Department of Homeland Security database lists at least 285 illegal immigrants removed from the Great Lakes State with prior convictions for a wide array of heinous crimes.
They include criminals from Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Israel, Cuba, Laos, Iraq, Columbia, Canada, Nigeria, China, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, Burma, Ukraine, Laos, El Salvador, Sudan, Romania, Peru, Pakistan, Ecuador, Somalia, Vietnam, Jordan, Thailand, Ghana, Poland, Cambodia, Iran, India, Spain, Pakistan, Eritrea, Albania, the Ivory Coast, Dominican Republic of the Congo, Nicaragua, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Egypt, Jamaica, Malaysia, and Bhutan.
Prior convictions for the “Worst of the Worst” involve sex assaults, prostituting a minor, cocaine smuggling, DUIs, aggravated assaults, fraud, drug trafficking, hit and runs, lascivious acts with a minor, burglary, sex offenses, immigration fraud, homicide, smuggling aliens, carrying a concealed weapon, identity theft, property damage, resisting police, drug sales, racketeering, domestic violence, negligent manslaughter, flight to avoid prosecution, resisting police, amphetamine sales, cruelty toward a child, drug possession, fondling a child, possession of stolen property, counterfeiting, obstructing justice, trespassing, shoplifting, robbery, failure to register as a sex offender, prostitution, willful homicide, forceable purse snatching, probation violations, weapon trafficking, possession of burglary tools, rape, sodomy, manufacturing methamphetamines, sexual exploitation of a minor, extortion, kidnapping, computer fraud, intimidation, and other offenses.
