QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11) -- The alleged drunk driver accused of intentionally killing a 16-year-old girl on a Queens sidewalk early Saturday morning is a Honduran national who is in the United States illegally, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced on Wednesday.

Jose Edwin Cruz Gomez illegally entered the U.S. near Nogales, Arizona, on Nov. 10, 2004, officials say.

After being denied asylum, Cruz was ordered to be removed from the U.S.

Cruz then illegally reentered the U.S. sometime after, and was encountered by ICE officers on April 29, 2013, on Long Island, when he was arrested for DUI, officials say.

A deportation order was reinstated, but he was released from ICE detention on July 1, 2013, for enrolling in an Alternatives to Detention Program. Officials say he absconde

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