U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained an undocumented immigrant mother accused of driving a vehicle involved in a tragic rollover accident in Arizona. This incident led to the death of her 9-year-old daughter and left three other children injured, Fox News Digital reports.
The driver, 30-year-old Brenda Liliana Rivera-Estrada, a Mexican national, was suspected by authorities of being impaired at the time of the accident on April 12. The crash resulted in her daughter being ejected from the vehicle and caused injuries to two boys, ages 11 and 3, as well as a 1-year-old baby girl. Reports indicate that her daughter was sharing a seatbelt with a sibling when the accident occurred.
Rivera-Estrada faced several felony charges relating to manslaughter and child abuse and was initially held on a $100,000 bond. However, county prosecutors chose not to file charges, and she was released from local custody before ICE detained her under an immigration hold.
“The apprehension of Brenda Liliana Rivera-Estrada by ICE highlights the critical role of the Criminal Alien Program and demonstrates the public safety efforts carried out by officers with Enforcement and Removal Operations,” stated Alejandro Almeida, the Deputy Field Office Director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in Phoenix, in a statement to Fox News.
Rivera-Estrada was suspected by police of being under the influence during the accident on April 12, which led to her daughter’s ejection from the vehicle and injured three other children, including boys aged 11 and 3, and a 1-year-old girl. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
“Rivera-Estrada’s future now lies with the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, and any administrative or judicial appeals that may be available, which will ultimately decide her eligibility to remain in the United States,” Almeida further commented.
ICE officers first encountered Rivera-Estrada at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Intake, Transfer and Release facility on the day she was booked April 16. ICE said it maintains a presence at the facility and interviews those booked there to identify illegal immigrants and removable criminal aliens.
The agency said that work is part of ICE’s Criminal Alien Program, which is designed to transfer removable criminal aliens into federal immigration custody in a controlled setting.
Rivera-Estrada allegedly entered the United States through Nogales, Arizona, on Feb. 14, 2009, as a nonimmigrant border crosser with authorization to remain for up to 30 days, according to ICE. Officials said she remained in the country beyond that period in violation of federal immigration law.
She will remain in ICE custody pending immigration proceedings, according to officials.
“The suspect chose to get in a vehicle where she was allegedly under the influence of marijuana,” a prosecutor told Fox 10 Phoenix. “Multiple witnesses stated that she was driving above the posted speed limit, which was 65.”
Arizona troopers reportedly smelled the odor of marijuana at the crash scene, and officials said Rivera-Estrada admitted in a court hearing that she smoked marijuana, Fox 10 reported.
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