An illegal migrant ordered to be removed from the United States several years ago has since been arrested for a deadly car crash in Virginia that killed a young college student.
Elvis Jamir Cruz-Ferrera, an 18-year-old Honduran national, was arrested in February on manslaughter charges for the car crash in Chesapeake, Virginia, that month that killed 19-year-old Old Dominion University student Lauryn Ni’Kole Leonard, according to The Virginian-Pilot. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Cruz-Ferrera entered the country illegally in 2016 and never showed up to a subsequent immigration court hearing where he was ordered to be deported.
Border Patrol agents apprehended Cruz-Ferrera in McAllen, Texas, when he unlawfully crossed into the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor in October 2016, according to the Virginian-Pilot. He was 11 years old at the time.
Cruz-Ferrera was shortly released from ICE custody and ordered to appear before an immigration judge in two years — in September 2018. However, the then-13-year-old never showed up to the court hearing and was ordered removed from the country.
He eventually took up residence in southeastern Virginia where he had multiple run-ins with local law enforcement, according to the Pilot. Virginia State Police charged him with reckless driving and driving without a license in November 2023 and he was charged with driving without a license again on Jan. 14.
However, none of these charges reportedly triggered an investigation into his immigration status.
Cruz-Ferrera was heading south on I-664 on Feb. 19 when his Pontiac Vibe hit Leonard’s Toyota Solara, causing both drivers to run off the highway and strike the guardrail, killing Leonard on impact, according to the Pilot. He was charged with felony reckless driving, having no proof of insurance, driving without a license, no valid inspection on a car and, several days later, was also charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Leonard’s mother, Dana Hargrove, said he didn’t understand why Cruz-Ferrera’s prior arrests didn’t launch inquiries into his immigration status.
“I think it’s crazy,” she said, according to the Pilot. “Like, how come nobody looked into it? … She’s minding her own business and you come out of nowhere and just turned my life upside down.”
Leonard was a sophomore at Old Dominion University and reportedly told her family just hours before the deadly crash that she scored a job conducting orientations for new students. Her brother, Erick Hargrove, also questioned law enforcement’s handling of Cruz-Ferrera’s immigration history.
“I don’t want to say anything that sounds like far right or far left,” Hargrove stated to the Pilot. “But I would just say that it’s a possibility that this wouldn’t have happened if the deportation happened when it was supposed to.”
Leonard’s death follows several other high-profile killings of American women in recent months, allegedly at the hands of illegal migrants. A Venezuelan national was charged with murdering Georgia nursing student Laken Riley in February, a Salvadoran national was arrested earlier this year for the murder of Maryland mother Rachel Morin and two Venezuelan nationals were arrested in June for the rape and murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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