Karmjit Singh, an Indian national who fatally struck an 8-year-old boy while driving drunk in 2019, has been taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after multiple releases despite prior convictions. The Biden administration did not deport him following his initial three-year prison sentence, but he is now detained at a large ICE facility in California. The boy's father, Scott Martzen, has expressed ongoing frustration with the immigration system's handling of the case.
In 2019, Karmjit Singh, an Indian national who had overstayed his visa and had a prior felony DUI conviction from 2016, was driving drunk in his BMW at over 100 miles per hour when he collided with another vehicle and attempted to flee the scene. The crash killed 8-year-old Maverick Martzen, a promising baseball player, and severely injured his parents, Scott and Megan Martzen.
Singh served three years in prison for the manslaughter. Upon release, he accumulated two additional DUIs. In June 2023, he was arrested for driving drunk at 2 a.m. and presented his brother Parminder's driver's license to police, who identified him and noted his suspended license due to the manslaughter but released him. A similar incident occurred in November 2023.
He returned to prison briefly and was released on parole by California on January 30, 2024, despite an ICE hold, according to Scott Martzen, who monitored the California prison system's website without receiving official notification. "Second chance. Third chance. Fourth chance. Fifth chance. Our son never got one more day," Martzen told The Daily Wire.
A search of ICE's detainee database confirms Singh is now held at the California City Corrections Center, the largest immigration facility in California, which can accommodate up to 2,500 people and was reopened as an ICE holding site. Martzen has questioned the deportation process, stating, "What does it take? He killed a kid, he’s got an expired visa, no driver's license, two DUIs, a third that should have been a DUI but was lowered, and he’s still able to live here … it’s beyond frustrating."
The family honors Maverick, who was the first draft pick for a 12-year-old baseball team at age 8 and an advanced student, through the nonprofit M30, which supports child athletes. During COVID-era games, a cardboard cutout of Maverick sat in the stands at the San Francisco Giants' stadium. Martzen believes his son would be alive today had Singh been deported after the 2016 conviction.
