ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Seattle has returned Rajinder Kumar to Deschutes County authorities to face felony manslaughter charges. The transfer ensures the 32-year-old truck driver answers for a November 2025 crash that killed William Micah Carter and his wife, Jennifer Lynn Lower, before any deportation orders are executed.
The return followed a publicized encounter documented by the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement's Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement office. In a video released earlier this month, Elizabeth Carter, the victim's mother, spoke to Kumar through the passenger window of an ICE vehicle. Carter told Kumar that she prayed for him and his family, stating she knew he did not wake up that morning planning to kill two newlyweds.
Kumar is charged with two counts of first-degree manslaughter and three counts of reckless endangerment in Deschutes County. These charges stem from a collision on Nov. 24, 2025, when Kumar allegedly jackknifed his commercial tractor-trailer across U.S. Highway 20. The maneuver blocked both lanes of traffic, causing the couple's Subaru Outback to strike the semi. Both passengers, who had been married for 16 days, died at the scene.
A jurisdictional dispute arose after a Deschutes County grand jury indicted Kumar. Although he pleaded not guilty in state court, county corrections officials declined to honor a federal immigration detainer on April 2. Instead, they released Kumar into the community under Oregon's state sanctuary policies. ICE agents subsequently located and arrested Kumar on April 22 in connection with his immigration case.
Court and immigration records indicate Kumar entered the United States unlawfully near Lukeville, Ariz., on Nov. 28, 2022. He was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol and released into the country under the Biden administration pending removal proceedings. During that period, he received federal work authorization and obtained a Commercial Driver's License from the State of California.
ICE detained Kumar at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Wash., while initiating federal removal proceedings. Acting Field Office Director Julio Hernandez stated that the coordinated action protects the public and ensures Kumar does not evade justice for the serious charges against him. Department of Homeland Security officials confirmed that federal deportation proceedings are paused while Oregon state prosecutors pursue the criminal case in Deschutes County Circuit Court.