EXCLUSIVE: A Colombian national residing in the U.S. without legal permission caused a fatal accident in Southern California during a law enforcement pursuit last month, officials reported.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), 21-year-old Darwin Felipe Bahamon Martinez was apprehended near San Diego in 2023 and subsequently released under the Biden administration’s policies.

ICE’s Los Angeles field office shared that “Bahamon Martinez unlawfully entered the U.S. near Chula Vista, California, in August 2023.”

The statement further criticized the administration’s ‘catch-and-release’ approach, suggesting that the tragic death of the 59-year-old driver might have been prevented if Martinez had not been released.

The incident unfolded on January 21 in Anaheim when Martinez, behind the wheel of a Jeep Gladiator, was pulled over by police for erratic driving. Upon officers approaching on foot, Martinez fled the scene, as reported by authorities.

The pursuit, which was brief, ended in Placentia with the Jeep crashing into a Honda driven by a 59-year-old man, resulting in the latter’s death.

The driver was pronounced dead at the crash site. 

Another driver, an 83-year-old woman, was taken to a hospital and treated for minor injuries. 

The Anaheim Police Department’s police vehicle.  ( Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)

Bahamon Martinez is being held in the Orange County Jail while awaiting criminal proceedings on his homicide charge. ICE lodged an immigration detainer against him Jan. 22.

However, because of California’s sanctuary state laws, local authorities are not compelled to cooperate with ICE to transfer illegal immigrants charged or convicted of crimes into federal custody. 

California school board members believe there is a lot of “fearmongering” happening over immigration enforcement as teachers unions and major city school districts are scolding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Getty Images)

“If local officials in Gavin Newsom’s sanctuary California choose to release Bahamon Martinez into the community, they will put ALL Californians at risk,” ICE said in a news release. “California must honor our immigration detainer. Otherwise, ICE will be forced to re-arrest this criminal illegal alien at-large.”

In jurisdictions with sanctuary laws, ICE officers typically have to go into communities to look for illegal immigrants targeted for deportation. The agency has called for greater cooperation with local authorities amid confrontations between federal officers and agitators in Minnesota, where local officials have accused ICE of terrorizing neighborhoods. 

Critics of sanctuary laws say such laws are responsible for releasing dangerous criminals back onto the street.