CHICAGO — Federal prosecutors said Tuesday a reputed Chicago gang member charged with soliciting the murder of U.S. Border Patrol field boss Gregory Bovino is in the country illegally and they are seeking to have him detained without bond pending trial.

Juan Espinoza Martinez, 37, of Chicago, was arrested Monday morning and charged in a criminal complaint with one count of solicitation of murder-for-hire, which carries up to 10 years in prison.

During his initial appearance in court Tuesday, prosecutors said Martinez is not a U.S. citizen and has been living in the country illegally for an unspecified length of time, though it could be longer than 10 years.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Maione said prosecutors would seek Martinez’s detention based on him being a danger to the community and flight risk.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez set a detention hearing for Friday.

Martinez appeared in court for the brief hearing dressed in orange jail clothes and listened to the proceedings through a Spanish interpreter. Before the hearing began, he motioned with his hands to his brother in the courtroom gallery. He later shook his head emphatically when prosecutors made reference to “his gang.”

Martinez’s brother declined to comment after the hearing.

According to the complaint, Martinez, a ranking member of the Latin Kings, told a law enforcement source after an immigration agent shot a woman in the Brighton Park neighborhood over the weekend “that he had dispatched members of the Latin Kings to the area of the 39th and Kedzie … in response to the shooting.”

On Sunday, the source showed a screenshot to law enforcement that had been sent to him by Martinez depicting a conversation Martinez had with an unknown individual, according to the complaint. In that conversation, Martinez allegedly said “lets get some guys out here bro.” The other person wrote back, “Let one of us be infront with the (green gun emoji)” the complaint stated.

The law enforcement source also shared Snapchat messages that Martinez had sent him saying, “2k on information when you get him” and “10k if u take him down,” according to the complaint.

The message also stated “LK on him,” which was a reference to the Latin Kings, the complaint alleged.

Included in the message was a photo of Bovino, who has recently participated in immigration enforcement operations in Chicago on behalf of the U.S. Border Patrol, according to a law enforcement source and the complaint, which identifies Bovino only as a senior Border Patrol official.

In a guest appearance on Fox News’s Sean Hannity Monday night, Bovino addressed the charges without identifying himself as the target of the alleged plot.

“It’s a war zone out there,” Bovino said about Chicago. “(DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem mentioned a bounty on the heads of federal agents. That $2,000 to kidnap, $10,000 to kill senior Border Patrol officials and senior ICE officials here in Chicago. Now, Sean, what happens between the kidnapping and the killing portion? That’s something out of a third-world country. Is this America?”

When someone posted later on X that the bounty was allegedly for Bovino, he responded through his X account: “You just might be right.”

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