Last week, the Department of Homeland Security issued a press release claiming local authorities in Washington state refused to honor a detainer from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for a “criminal illegal alien” truck driver who was involved in a crash with a school bus along I-5 earlier this month.
This past weekend, yet more news emerged indicating another truck driver -- identified as an “illegal alien from India” in this Fox News report -- was released on $100,000 bond after being accused of causing a crash in Washington state that had more dire implications. The Auburn, Washington, crash resulted in the death of a 29-year-old man.
Kamalpreet Singh, 25, of Elk Grove, California, was arrested Dec. 11 as part of an investigation of charges of vehicular homicide, according to local reports. The fatal crash occurred on the morning of Dec. 11 when a 2020 Freightliner Cascadia, reportedly driven by Singh, struck a 2010 Mazda 3 sedan that was stopped behind a 2016 Peterbilt truck on northbound State Route 167, just south of State Route 18. Troopers said the collision pushed the Mazda into the Peterbilt, crushing the car between the two trucks. The driver of the car, Robert B. Pearson, 29, of Bonney Lake, Washington, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Auburn Examiner reported that, according to court documents, “troopers determined Singh made no attempt to brake or take evasive action before striking the stopped vehicles.” It was also alleged that Singh had falsified his electronic logging device by listing a co-driver, and investigators said data could indicate the ELD had been altered or disconnected.
While it wasn’t clear if ICE had lodged a detainer for Singh, too, Fox News reported Sunday that he had been released on bond from the King County jail. As in the case reported last week, DHS took the opportunity to call out Washington’s “sanctuary” policies.
"These demented and dangerous sanctuary policies have deadly consequences," DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News. "Robert Pearson would still be alive today if the Biden Administration hadn’t released this illegal alien into our country. How many more Americans have to be killed before Democrat politicians start to put the public’s safety ahead of politics?"
[Related: Alabama joins forces with ICE in trucking immigration crackdown]
For DHS, 'sanctuary policy' is to blame. For local officials, that means state law
Why are Washington authorities releasing drivers despite ICE detainers?
In the case reported last week, ICE's detainer was for Juan Hernandez-Santos, the Mexican national accused of causing the wreck by hitting the rear of a school bus, causing a six-car pile-up along I-5 on the morning of Dec. 4, in Lacey, Washington. The crash reportedly resulted in three people being hospitalized.
Yet “local authorities did not honor the ICE detainer due to sanctuary policies, and he was subsequently released from custody,” according to DHS.
Note an immigration detainer means ICE asks a federal, state or local law enforcement agency to notify ICE as early as possible before they release a removable alien, and to hold the alien for up to 48 hours beyond the time they would ordinarily release them. That's to give ICE time to assume custody in accordance with federal immigration law.
In the case of Hernandez-Santos, DHS is saying Washington authorities didn't do those things.
Officials in Thurston County, Washington, confirmed that's the case, and Tara Tsehlana, spokesperson for the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, explained why. The general issue stems from disagreement between state and federal law.
“Under Washington law, local law enforcement agencies are prohibited from assisting with federal immigration enforcement,” she said, what DHS means when they invoke the sanctuary policy phrase.
Because of this, many jurisdictions in Washington, she added, “have determined that ICE detainers, which are not reviewed or authorized by a judge, do not carry the same legal authority as a judicial arrest warrant.”
Tsehlana added that there is also case law that indicates “counties may be held liable for wrongful detention if they hold an individual without a judicially issued warrant or court order.” Because of this, “many, if not most, Washington counties do not honor ICE detainers unless they are signed by a judge.”
In the case of Hernandez-Santos, local reports indicated the driver did not possess a commercial driver’s license, insurance or a valid medical card, but was operating the truck when he caused the pile-up. Tsehlana said detaining an individual on a charge of no CDL “would be unusual.”
“At the defendant’s first appearance, the judge ordered Mr. Hernandez-Santos to be released with conditions,” Tsehlana added. “The jail followed established protocols and complied with the court’s order and state law by releasing the individual.”
While Washington courts and county jurisdictions may, by state law, refuse to honor an ICE immigration detainer request, ICE says when detainers aren’t honored by local authorities, “officers pursue the alien in the community,” adding that “these at-large arrests are more dangerous for the public, aliens and officers.”
