Yet another truck driver involved in a fatal crash has gained the attention of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Rajinder JumarU.S. Department of Homeland Security
On Nov. 24, Kumar, from India, jackknifed his tractor-trailer, blocking both lanes of U.S. Highway 20, a DHS release said.
A Subaru Outback collided with the truck, tragically killing both the driver, William Micah Carter, and passenger, Jennifer Lynn Lower.
A report from Central Oregon Daily said Kumar’s rig was stopped across the highway with the cab facing eastbound, but the trailer was perpendicular to the travel lanes. The report added that Oregon State Police said dark conditions and a lack of emergency warning equipment contributed to the crash.
[Related: ICE arrests 'wanted terrorist driving 18-wheeler in Kansas']
DHS said that Kumar entered the U.S. illegally near Lukeville, Arizona, on Nov. 28, 2022, and was released into the country by the Biden administration. He was issued a commercial driver’s license by California and given work authorization in 2023.
“Rajinder Kumar, a criminal illegal alien from India, was released into our country under the Biden administration and issued a commercial driver’s license by Gavin Newsom’s Department of Motor Vehicles,” said Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “How many more senseless tragedies must take place before sanctuary politicians stop allowing illegal aliens to dangerously operate semi-trucks on America’s roads? Our prayers are with William and Jennifer’s families. Under Secretary Noem, ICE will continue its efforts to get illegal alien truck drivers off America’s highways.”
[Related: 'Every foreign truck driver's worst nightmare': Courts can't stop Trump, DOT's immigration crackdown]
According to the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office website, Kumar remains in the jail with a $250,000 bond. He faces two counts of criminally negligent homicide and one count of reckless endangering.
Kumar is the latest “criminal illegal alien” for whom ICE has lodged an immigration detainer as a result of their actions behind the wheel of a truck.
In August, ICE lodged an arrest detainer for Harjinder Singh following his arrest resulting from a crash in Florida that killed three. Harjinder Singh’s case in part led to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Sept. 29 emergency rulemaking seeking to force nearly 200,000 non-citizen CDL holders out of truck driving and other CDL work.
In October, Borko Stankovic earned ICE’s attention after his involvement in a fatal crash in Indiana.
That same month, ICE lodged an arrest detainer for Jashanpreet Singh, who failed to stop in traffic and plowed into a line of cars, causing a chain-reaction crash that killed three and injured several others on I-10 in Ontario, California.
[Related: Wyoming immigration raid hits I-25, I-80 with 40 'criminal alien' drivers arrested]
