An Indiana mother was allegedly killed in a drunk-driving hit-and-run involving a Honduran national who entered the United States during the Biden administration, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Tamara Thomas, 33, was waiting in the parking lot of an Indianapolis gas station on Saturday when she was struck by a vehicle allegedly driven by Edwin Alexander Sosa-Gonzalez, DHS said.
According to police documents reviewed by the Indianapolis Star, the 22-year-old was speeding in a gray Honda CR-V when he hit another vehicle. The collision sent his SUV over the curbs.
Thomas, who was waiting to be picked up by her two brothers, tried to move out of harm’s way. She was struck by the Honda and pronounced dead at the scene.
Sosa-Gonzalez allegedly fled after the crash but was arrested hours later. Police documents state that officers noticed he smelled of alcohol, was stumbling and had slurred speech.
He was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated after his blood-alcohol concentration was measured at 0.229—nearly three times Indiana’s legal limit.
DHS said Sosa-Gonzalez also faces charges of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death or catastrophic injury and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.
According to DHS, Sosa-Gonzalez entered the United States illegally through Texas in July 2021. US Border Patrol arrested him at the time, but he was later released during the Biden administration.
He was subsequently placed in ICE custody after a February 2024 arrest for allegedly driving while intoxicated and driving without ever obtaining a license.
ICE filed a detainer on Sunday, the day after the fatal crash. Markwayne Mullin, the DHS secretary, also criticized the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
“This illegal alien, who had been released into our country by the Biden Administration, took the life of 33-year-old Tamara Renee Thomas because he was drunk behind the wheel,” Mullin said.
“He has now been charged with hit-and-run and driving under the influence.
“ICE has lodged a detainer asking officials in Indiana to cooperate with us and make sure this killer never gets back onto the streets again.
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“This disaster was completely avoidable, and were it not for the reckless open-border policies of the Biden Administration, this woman would still be alive. My thoughts and prayers are with Tamara’s family and friends.”
Tamara’s father, Tommy Thomas, said he was determined to give his daughter the best funeral possible. He also spoke about his regrets, including a previous prison sentence for dealing LSD.
“It should’ve never happened,” he told Fox59.
“My daughter’s had a crap life,” he admitted. “I might have had some part in that at one point in time.
“I wanna give her the best burial, I wanna give her the most proper burial that I can.”
He said he hoped to scatter her ashes in Hawaii if she is cremated.
Tommy Thomas was candid about how his daughter, who dropped out of school before she reached the seventh grade, had struggled with drugs – but said she had “recently started getting clean.”
He lamented how Thomas, who was a mom to a son, was killed by an allegedly drunk driver rather than substances.
“It wasn’t even the drugs or the normal sideshow of people that she hangs out with on a daily basis,” he said.
Tommy Thomas also said he wished his daughter had died from drugs.
“There was a long time that I really thought I was going to get a call that she was gone, and it was going to be because of a drug overdose,” he told WTHR.
“And I hate to say it, but I wish it had been an overdose. I hate to know how much pain, if any, that she went through, you know, pinned underneath that car, and when that guy hit her.”
