Migrant teenagers charged in fatal stabbing of homeless man in Chicago

A trio of migrant teenagers were charged in the fatal stabbing of a 49-year-old homeless man in Chicago over the weekend, according to officials.

Wuinayker Rodriguez-Vasquez, 16, was charged as an adult with first-degree murder in connection with the incident that happened on Sunday morning, according to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. He appeared on Tuesday for a detention hearing, in which a judge ordered him to be held pre-trial.

Two 14-year-olds were also charged — one was charged with first-degree murder and the other was charged with armed robbery. The two 14-year-olds appeared in juvenile court on Monday and were ordered held in custody.

Officials said the victim did not know any of the suspects.

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All three suspects are reportedly from Venezuela.

The Department of Homeland Security told Fox News that records show Rodriguez-Vazquez is believed to have crossed into the U.S. in September 2023 near Eagle Pass, Texas.  He was arrested and released at the time along with his mother.

Assistant State’s Attorney Todd Kleist also said in a court filing in the stabbing case that Rodriguez-Vasquez's contact with Texas law enforcement in 2023 was documented as an "alien inadmissibility" case.

Rodriguez-Vasquez has no prior criminal history in Illinois, according to Kleist.

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Prosecutors said the stabbing attack happened at around 5:45 a.m. on Sunday in the Chicago Loop, where the victim was sleeping near his cat and belongings, including a skeleton mask.

A group that included Rodriguez-Vasquez and the two 14-year-olds allegedly approached the victim while Rodriguez-Vasquez had a knife hidden in his sleeve and another teenager held a metal rod, according to prosecutors.

One of the teenagers grabbed the victim’s mask and ran. When the victim stood up, Rodriguez-Vasquez allegedly kicked him, prosecutors said. One of the 14-year-olds allegedly struck the victim, and Rodriguez-Vasquez is accused of stabbing him in the back, causing him to collapse.

The attack was captured on surveillance video.

The victim was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The medical examiner ruled the cause of death a stab wound to the back and the manner of death a homicide.

Police later detained the teenagers after spotting people on camera wearing the same clothing seen in surveillance footage. Rodriguez-Vasquez was found with a knife, and he was later identified by his mother and another member of the group.

Prosecutors said Rodriguez-Vasquez was seen in stills from after the incident "displaying a knife to the group, making stabbing motions, and wearing the victim’s skeleton mask on his head."

A Chicago police source told Fox News this was an especially heinous and cruel murder of an innocent homeless man, saying that it was a "mob style" attack in which some of the suspects were laughing afterward.

Fox News' Patrick McGovern and Mathew Finn contributed to this report.

Muslim groups, other leaders demand Abbott rescind CAIR's ‘terrorist’ designation: 'Defamatory'

A group of Muslim and interfaith leaders are urging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, to reverse his proclamation designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a "foreign terrorist organization."

Texas’s designation is state-level only. It does not carry the legal force of a federal Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) listing, which only the U.S. State Department can issue. Abbott’s proclamation, therefore, does not trigger federal terrorism penalties or authorities.

The leaders of several Muslim groups held a news conference on Tuesday to denounce the governor’s proclamation, which also labeled CAIR as a "a transnational criminal organization."

The groups called on the governor to retract his labeling of the civil rights group, calling it defamatory, destructive and dangerous, according to Fox 4.

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This comes after CAIR filed a lawsuit against Texas over the governor's declaration, arguing that it violates both the U.S. Constitution and state law.

CAIR argues the order violates its First Amendment rights and due-process protections, and that Texas overstepped its authority because terrorism designations fall under federal, not state, jurisdiction.

"The governor is attempting to punish the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization simply because he disagrees with its protected First Amendment rights to criticize a foreign state that is conducting genocide. This is not only contrary to the United States Constitution, but finds no support in any Texas law," Mustaffa Carroll, the executive director for CAIR Dallas Fort Worth, said at the news conference on Tuesday.

"You know that CAIR has condemned Hamas attacks. You know that CAIR has spent 31 years fighting terrorism and bigotry. You know that the terrorism boogeyman you invoke is nothing more than a tired, formulated playbook to stoke fear of Muslims," Marium Uddin of the Muslim Legal Defense Fund said on Tuesday.

Leaders from other faiths, including Jewish voices, also spoke out against Abbott's label.

"We stand steadfast in solidarity with our comrades in CAIR and in unwavering support in their lawsuit against Abbott’s false and unconstitutional proclamation," Jewish Voice for Peace's Deborah Armintor said.

State Rep. Terry Meza, a Democrat, added that the governor's words "are not just wrong, they’re dangerous. Making comments like this is dangerous to our Muslim community."

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The lawsuit is ongoing, and it remains unclear whether a court will uphold Abbott’s order or strike it down as exceeding state authority.

The governor’s decree bars CAIR from buying land in the Lone Star State under a new statute aimed at curbing purchases tied to "foreign adversaries."

Abbott’s order also extended the "terrorist" label to the Muslim Brotherhood, despite the federal government never classifying either group that way.

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