Texas murder suspected arrested in Halifax to have deportation hearing

HALIFAX – A man suspected of murder in Texas and arrested by police in Halifax earlier this week will go before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada to determine whether he should be sent back to the United States.

Derek Cameron Whisenand was arrested Monday after police were called about a shoplifter at a business in the city’s Bayer’s Lake area.

He was subsequently turned over to the Canada Border Services Agency and officials say he remains in custody following a 48-hour detention review before the board on Thursday.

A spokeswoman for the Immigration and Refugee Board says Whisenand will have a mandatory seven-day detention review hearing on Wednesday, and could have an admissibility hearing either then or at a later date on the allegation that he is inadmissible to Canada on the grounds of serious criminality outside of Canada.

The 28-year-old is a suspect in the death of a 78-year-old man in Eastland County, Texas, about 170 kilometres southwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

In July, RCMP warned that he had illegally crossed into Canada near Haskett, Man., sometime during the week of June 24.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 3, 2020.