ICE returns Oregon truck driver to state custody for manslaughter trial
Federal agents handed Rajinder Kumar back to Deschutes County authorities after a dispute over a detainer led to his release earlier this year.
By Aaron Foster ·
Rajinder Kumar returned to Deschutes County, Ore., custody on Monday after federal immigration agents resolved a jurisdictional conflict that had delayed his criminal trial for nearly six months.
Kumar, 32, faces two counts of first-degree manslaughter and three counts of recklessly endangering another person. The charges stem from a Nov. 24, 2025, crash on U.S. Highway 20 that killed William Micah Carter, 25, and his wife, Jennifer Lynn Lower, 24.
The couple had been married for 16 days when their Subaru Outback struck Kumar’s commercial tractor-trailer. Kumar allegedly jackknifed his rig across both lanes of the highway, blocking the path of the oncoming vehicle.
A jurisdictional dispute began after a Deschutes County grand jury indicted Kumar in early 2026. Although he pleaded not guilty, county corrections officials released him under state sanctuary policies on April 2. They declined to honor an immigration detainer filed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which had requested notice before his release.
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Seattle agents arrested Kumar on April 22. They detained him at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Wash., while federal removal proceedings moved forward.
Earlier this month, Elizabeth Carter, the mother of one of the victims, spoke to Kumar through the passenger window of an ICE vehicle. The interaction was recorded by the agency’s Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement office.
“Hello Mr. Kumar, my name is Elizabeth Carter; I’m William Micah Carter’s mother,” Carter said, fighting back tears. “And I wanted you to know that I pray for you and your family, I know you didn’t get up that morning planning to kill two newlyweds.”
Kumar entered the United States near Lukeville, Ariz., on Nov. 28, 2022. U.S. Border Patrol apprehended him and released him into the country pending removal proceedings under the Biden administration. He later obtained a commercial driver’s license from the State of California.
Julio Hernandez, acting Field Office Director for ICE ERO Seattle, stated that the return of Kumar to state custody allows him to face felony charges before any deportation orders are executed. Homeland Security officials confirmed that federal deportation proceedings remain paused while criminal trial proceedings continue in Deschutes County Circuit Court.
