Trump Vows Justice After Shocking Murder of Indian Motel Worker

US Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump has strong­ly con­demned the shock­ing behead­ing of Indi­an-ori­gin motel man­ag­er Chan­dra Mouli Naga­mal­la­iah in Dal­las, call­ing it an unthink­able act of vio­lence and vow­ing the harsh­est pos­si­ble pun­ish­ment for the accused.

Writ­ing on his Truth Social account, Trump declared: “The time for being soft on these Ille­gal Immi­grant Crim­i­nals is OVER under my watch.” He empha­sized that Yor­da­nis Cobos-Mar­tinez, the 35-year-old Cuban nation­al accused of the crime, will be pros­e­cut­ed to the “fullest extent of the law” and face charges of first-degree mur­der.

The bru­tal killing took place on Sep­tem­ber 10 at the Down­town Suites Motel in Dal­las, where Naga­mal­la­iah worked as a man­ag­er. Accord­ing to police reports, the vio­lence erupt­ed fol­low­ing a dis­pute over a bro­ken wash­ing machine. After the argu­ment, Cobos-Mar­tinez alleged­ly left the room, returned with a machete, and car­ried out the grue­some attack, decap­i­tat­ing the 50-year-old vic­tim in front of his wife and son.

Author­i­ties lat­er revealed that Cobos-Mar­tinez is an undoc­u­ment­ed immi­grant with a long record of crim­i­nal offens­es, includ­ing alleged child abuse. He had been in US cus­tody and was under a final order of removal, but Cuba report­ed­ly refused to take him back due to his crim­i­nal his­to­ry. As a result, he was released on an order of super­vi­sion ear­li­er this year. Trump used this case to crit­i­cize the Biden administration’s immi­gra­tion poli­cies, say­ing dan­ger­ous crim­i­nals are being allowed to walk free.

Naga­mal­la­iah, orig­i­nal­ly from Ben­galu­ru in Kar­nata­ka, India, moved to the Unit­ed States in 2018 in search of a bet­ter life. He ded­i­cat­ed him­self to sup­port­ing his fam­i­ly, and accord­ing to friends, worked tire­less­ly to pro­vide oppor­tu­ni­ties for his chil­dren. His son, who recent­ly grad­u­at­ed from high school, is prepar­ing to begin college—a dream that his father will trag­i­cal­ly nev­er wit­ness.

The assault deeply shook the Indi­an-Amer­i­can com­mu­ni­ty in Texas and beyond. On Sep­tem­ber 13, a funer­al ser­vice was held in Flower Mound, Texas, where fam­i­ly, friends, and mem­bers of the com­mu­ni­ty gath­ered to pay their last respects. Mourn­ers remem­bered Naga­mal­la­iah as a hard­work­ing, kind-heart­ed man who always greet­ed every­one with warmth and respect.

The case has also sparked out­rage and sor­row across India, with many in his home­town of Ben­galu­ru express­ing grief at the sense­less loss. A fundrais­er launched to sup­port his griev­ing fam­i­ly has already raised more than $321,000 (₹2.36 crore), reflect­ing the sol­i­dar­i­ty and com­pas­sion shown by peo­ple around the world.

For now, Cobos-Mar­tinez remains in cus­tody at the Dal­las Coun­ty Jail, with US Immi­gra­tion and Cus­toms Enforce­ment (ICE) con­firm­ing that they have lodged him there. As the legal process moves for­ward, Trump has vowed to ensure that jus­tice is served swift­ly and deci­sive­ly, reit­er­at­ing his broad­er promise to crack down on undoc­u­ment­ed immi­gra­tion and pre­vent sim­i­lar tragedies in the future.