A string of deadly crashes involving illegal immigrants is reigniting calls for tougher immigration enforcement, as local authorities and federal officials confirm that several suspects charged with vehicular homicides in recent days were in the U.S. illegally — some with prior convictions, expired visas, or ignored detainer requests.
“It seems to be almost a daily occurrence where an illegal alien driving kills innocent Americans,” said Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, in a statement. “All of these deaths are preventable because these illegal aliens should have never been in our country.”
According to Fox News, in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, 31-year-old Juan Alfredo Chavarria Lezama is facing charges after allegedly slamming into a 15-year-old boy riding a bicycle Thursday evening around 7 p.m. The child, who has not been publicly named, was airlifted to a hospital but later died from his injuries, according to the sheriff’s office.
Chavarria, now charged with vehicular homicide, DWI, and driving without a license, is the subject of an ICE detainer request, authorities confirmed.
In Nashville, a 3:30 a.m. crash on August 10 left 37-year-old Raquel Lorena Sarabia Baraja dead and her husband Marco Antonio Baez Del Angel with life-threatening injuries.
Police arrested Julio Cesar Herrera-Gonzales at the scene on charges of vehicular homicide and drunken driving. He is an illegal immigrant from Honduras, DHS confirmed.
“Julio Cesar Herrera-Gonzales, a criminal illegal alien from Honduras, was granted Temporary Protected Status in 2008,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News’ Bill Melugin. “His TPS was revoked in 2015. He had a previous conviction for vandalism.” ICE issued a detainer for him over the weekend.
Around 1 p.m. Friday, 31-year-old Lionel Francisco allegedly drove a 2013 Buick onto a curb in Lewiston, Maine, striking a Massachusetts woman walking near a park. Francisco remained on scene and cooperated, but police said he is an illegal immigrant from Angola with an expired tourist visa as of July 30.
In a separate incident in New Gloucester, also in Maine, another Angolan national, Mukendi Mbiya, is accused of killing a 64-year-old female pedestrian on August 16. ICE records show Mbiya entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in December 2018, which expired in June 2019. He never left.
In Florida, Harjinder Singh, an alleged illegal immigrant from India, is accused of making an unlawful U-turn near Port St. Lucie, causing a catastrophic crash that killed three people riding in a minivan.
Singh reportedly failed to recognize three out of four traffic signs and answered just two of 12 questions on an English proficiency test administered by transportation officials. Despite laws banning illegals from obtaining full commercial driver’s licenses, Singh was issued one by Washington state in 2023, and later received a limited license in California.
He illegally entered the U.S. in 2018, was denied work authorization under the first Trump administration, and allegedly fled to California after the crash. He was arrested in Stockton.
In late July, Noelia Saray Martinez-Avila, 30, was arrested after allegedly driving the wrong way and slamming into two high school sweethearts, killing them near Madison, Wisconsin, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
The victims, Hallie Helgeson and Brady Heiling, were remembered as promising young lives taken too soon. Martinez-Avila, who is from Honduras, had a previous conviction for drunk driving in 2020.
“Hallie Helgeson and Brady Heiling had their whole lives ahead of them — and they would still be alive today if it weren’t for Noelia Saray Martinez-Avila — a criminal illegal alien from Honduras,” said McLaughlin.
She added that ICE had filed a detainer request, but it was not honored due to local sanctuary policies.
With President Donald Trump back in the White House, his administration has renewed its focus on migrant crime and launched a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigrants involved in criminal activity.
But as case after case shows, existing laws, ignored detainers, and sanctuary policies continue to create deadly gaps — gaps that leave American families shattered.
And as McLaughlin put it, “All of these deaths are preventable.”
