A man arrested in the home invasion beating of Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, is an illegal immigrant, according to a report Monday.
Fox News journalist Bill Melugin, citing a source with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, tweeted that David DePape is in the country illegally.
The source described DePape as a “longtime” visa overstay, Melugin said.
NEW: Per ICE source, David DePape, the suspect accused of beating Paul Pelosi in his home with a hammer after breaking in, is currently in the U.S. illegally as a “longtime” visa overstay. @FoxNews
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) October 31, 2022
In interviews with CNN, relatives of DePape said he grew up in British Columbia before moving from Canada to California decades ago.
San Francisco police described finding the 42-year-old DePape in the Pelosi residence early on Friday morning, struggling with the 82-year-old Paul Pelosi over a hammer.
They said the suspect pulled the hammer away from Pelosi and violently assaulted him with it. Both men were hospitalized after the incident.
DePape allegedly sought Nancy Pelosi herself, saying, “Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?” after confronting her husband in the bedroom of their home, CBS News reported. She was not there.
KRON-TV in San Francisco reported that DePape is part of a nudist activist group in the city’s Castro district. A blog published under his name expresses beliefs in a variety of far-fetched internet conspiracy theories emanating from both the right and the left.
Some of the Berkeley resident’s neighbors reportedly describe him as a habitual drug user who exhibited symptoms of mental illness.
The media are portraying the suspect in the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband as a man fundamentally driven by right-wing ideology. But it’s obvious to anyone who looks that what drove David DePape to violence was drug-induced paranoid psychosis.https://t.co/qfs5zHokni
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) October 29, 2022
DePape has been hit with federal charges in the attack on Pelosi.
A federal criminal complaint charges the suspect with the attempted kidnapping of a federal official and an assault on the immediate family member of a federal official.
Critics of California’s “sanctuary state” laws pointed to DePape’s visa status as evidence of the failure of such policies.
Wait, so you’re saying if we actually enforced our immigration laws in California, Paul Pelosi’s attacker wouldn’t have been here to commit the offense!
Good to know. https://t.co/9AzulL1s87— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 31, 2022
Paul Pelosi suffered serious injuries in the attack but is expected to recover, according to a news release from the speaker’s office.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.