An undocumented immigrant, who was brought to the U.S. during the Obama administration, was arrested in connection with the death of an 8-year-old girl in a traffic accident in Boise, Idaho. Elvin Elgardo Ramos Caballero was driving a pickup truck with a valid Oregon-issued driver’s license when he collided with 8-year-old Mora Gerety, who was crossing the street.
At that moment, Ramos-Caballero had a pending federal warrant from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) due to a failure to attend an immigration hearing, which had led a judge to order his deportation in May 2019.
In response to Gerety’s tragic death, Assistant Secretary of State Tricia McLaughlin expressed outrage, stating that the loss of the young girl, who was beloved by her friends and teachers, highlighted the consequences of decades of lenient immigration policies. She emphasized that these policies had transformed communities into border towns with dire outcomes.
Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donald recently spoke with Fox News Digital, calling for stricter enforcement against sanctuary state policies that allow unauthorized immigrants to obtain commercial driver’s licenses. His comments followed a joint operation by ICE and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, which led to the arrest of 70 undocumented immigrants, with several suspected of illegally operating large trucks.
This plea for action comes in the wake of another incident this summer in which an undocumented driver, who had repeatedly failed to obtain a commercial driver’s license from Washington state, executed an illegal U-turn on a Florida highway, resulting in the deaths of three individuals. Although the driver’s training company asserted his English proficiency, video evidence indicated otherwise.
Donald pointed to these situations as evidence of rising national security risks. He stated that, far too often, American citizens find themselves endangered by encounters with drivers who may not fully understand traffic laws or signs.
He also highlighted the reason for his sponsorship of the Weigh-In Act in Congress, which aims to hold states accountable for issuing commercial licenses and expand the Department of Transportation’s authority to prevent this issue. The act would also empower the Treasury to withhold federal money from non-compliant states.
