Oregon Custody Transfer: Driver Facing Manslaughter Returns to State Jail
ICE returned the 32-year-old truck driver to Deschutes County to stand trial after a jurisdictional dispute with local authorities.
By Andrew Yang ·
A federal agency returned a truck driver to state custody in Oregon to face manslaughter charges after a months-long dispute over who should hold him. Rajinder Kumar, 32, was handed over to Deschutes County authorities earlier this month. He is accused of causing a highway crash that killed two young people in November 2025.
The transfer ended a standoff between federal immigration agents and local corrections officials. Kumar is charged with two counts of first-degree manslaughter and three counts of recklessly endangering another person. The charges stem from a collision on U.S. Highway 20 in Deschutes County.
A video released by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement office shows the moments before the transfer. Elizabeth Carter, the mother of one of the victims, spoke to Kumar through the window of an ICE vehicle. She told him she prays for him and his family. She acknowledged that he likely did not plan to kill two newlyweds that morning.
Kumar allegedly jackknifed his commercial tractor-trailer across both lanes of Highway 20 on November 24, 2025. William Micah Carter, 25, and his wife Jennifer Lynn Lower, 24, were driving a Subaru Outback that struck the stopped semi. Both were killed at the scene. The couple had been married for 16 days at the time of the crash.
The path to trial was complicated by Kumar’s immigration status. Court records show he entered the United States near Lukeville, Arizona, on November 28, 2022. Border Patrol apprehended him, and he was released pending removal proceedings. He later obtained a federal work permit and a commercial driver’s license from California.
After a grand jury indicted Kumar, ICE placed an immigration detainer on his record. The detainer required the county jail to notify federal agents before releasing him. On April 2, county corrections officials declined to honor the detainer. They released Kumar under Oregon’s state sanctuary policies.
Federal agents located and arrested Kumar on April 22 in connection with his immigration case. He was held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, while removal proceedings moved forward. ICE decided to return him to state custody to ensure he faces the felony charges before any deportation order is executed.
Julio Hernandez, the acting Field Office Director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in Seattle, said the families deserve accountability. He stated that the coordinated action protects the public and ensures the accused does not evade justice. Department of Homeland Security officials confirmed that federal deportation proceedings are paused until the state trial concludes.
