A 92-year-old grandmother is dead, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is to blame. It’s true that a 21-year-old illegal alien has been arrested for the murder of Maria Fuertes. But in truth, it was Mayor de Blasio’s policies that allowed the illegal to roam the streets in the first place.

Last November, Reeaz Khan was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon. ICE put an immigration hold on the suspect but the request was ignored and Khan was released.

Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Matthew Albence said Mayor de Blasio’s policies are the only reason Ms. Fuertes is dead. “Time and time again, our efforts and our warnings to the disastrous consequences of noncooperation and even outright interference have gone unheard resulting in tragedies such as this one — countless victims whose lives are forever scarred at the hands of illegal criminal aliens,” he said at a press conference.

Albence said sanctuary-city policies make every American less safe.

“As long as politicians continue to put their own self-interest over those they’ve sworn to protect, and frankly, those who actually put them in office, this tragic situation will be repeated again and again. Make no mistake, it is this city’s sanctuary policies that are the sole reason that this criminal was allowed to roam the streets freely and end an innocent woman’s life,” he said.

Ms. Fuertes was left on the sidewalk to die — a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and bruises to her neck and chest. The medical examiner says she was strangled and sexually assaulted. A 92-year-old American woman, killed on American soil by an illegal alien. And the cold hard reality is that Ms. Fuertes would still be alive today had it not been for the mayor’s policy.

Someone should explain to Ms. Fuertes’s family why Mayor de Blasio is not in jail, too.