An Indian national who federal authorities say is in the United States illegally faces criminal charges after a semi-truck crash that killed a newly married couple in Oregon. Investigators say his jackknifed truck blocked both lanes of a highway, and the couple’s vehicle struck the trailer at highway speeds. Immigration officials have filed a detainer for the driver amid ongoing enforcement actions.
On November 24, 2025, Rajinder Kumar, a 32-year-old Indian national living in Fresno, California, was driving a Freightliner semi-truck and trailer on U.S. Highway 20 near milepost 51 in Deschutes County, Oregon, when the vehicle came to rest in a jackknifed position, blocking both lanes of travel, according to the Oregon State Police.
Authorities say a westbound Subaru Outback operated by 25-year-old William Micah Carter of Springfield struck the trailer, which was stopped perpendicular to the roadway, at highway speeds. Carter and his passenger, 24-year-old Jennifer Lynn Lower of John Day, were pronounced dead at the scene, state police and local news outlets have reported. The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon, reported, citing Jennifer’s father, Tom Lower, that the couple had been married for 16 days when the crash occurred.
Oregon State Police said dark conditions and a lack of active emergency warning equipment on the stopped truck are being considered primary contributing factors in the collision. Kumar was reportedly uninjured.
Kumar was arrested at the scene and lodged in the Deschutes County Jail on charges of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangering, according to Oregon State Police and multiple local reports.
The Department of Homeland Security said Kumar entered the United States illegally near Lukeville, Arizona, in November 2022 and was released into the country by federal authorities. DHS also said he later received work authorization in 2023 and was issued a California commercial driver's license that allowed him to operate commercial trucks.
In a statement released this week, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin sharply criticized the policies that allowed Kumar to remain in the country and obtain a commercial license.
“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,” McLaughlin said, according to DHS statements cited by several outlets. “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,” she added. “Under Secretary Noem, ICE will continue its efforts to get illegal alien truck drivers off America’s highways.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged an immigration detainer on Kumar with the Deschutes County Jail, requesting that he be transferred to ICE custody if he is released from local custody, DHS said. Because Oregon is a so-called sanctuary state that limits cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, DHS officials have said they will make "all necessary efforts" to take Kumar into custody should he be released.
Kumar has not entered a plea in the criminal case, and the crash remains under investigation.
In broader context, federal officials and some conservative media outlets have highlighted the case in debates over state and federal immigration and licensing policies. The Daily Wire, citing federal transportation data, reported that the Department of Transportation has identified California as a significant source of fatal crashes involving non-domiciled commercial drivers and that California authorities have issued roughly 17,000 non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses to foreign nationals. The outlet also reported that, following federal review of California’s compliance with English-language requirements for commercial drivers, the Trump administration moved to withhold about $40 million in federal funding from the state.
Those policy disputes are separate from the criminal case in Oregon, where prosecutors will ultimately determine how to proceed against Kumar based on the ongoing investigation and available evidence.
