Update: Truck driver charged in death of Springfield couple is in ICE custody

3 p.m. April 28: This story has been updated to include comments from an eyewitness to Rajinder Kumar’s detention, comments from Kumar’s defense attorney, and a statement from ICE.

Federal immigration authorities have taken into custody a 32-year-old truck driver charged with manslaughter in the Highway 20 deaths of a Springfield couple in the Bend area.

Rajinder Kumar is being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington.

The case highlights a clash between immigration authorities and the local prosecutors. 

“We would hope and intend to go forward with the criminal case,” Deschutes County District Attorney Stephen Gunnels said in an email Monday. “That said, federal actions are beyond our control, and we have no input into that process.”

Kumar has a trial date set for Jan. 19, 2027. He pleaded not guilty March 30 to the two counts of manslaughter, and not guilty to three misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person.

State Police arrested Kumar Nov. 24, 2025, after the deaths of William Micah Carter, 25, and Jennifer Lynn Lower, 24. Police said Kumar, from Fresno, California, was the driver of a jackknifed semitruck blocking lanes of traffic in Deschutes County, leading to the fatal collision.

A federal spokesperson in December highlighted Kumar’s status as an unauthorized immigrant from India in criticizing his licensure as a commercial driver by California motor vehicle authorities.

The deceased couple were traveling home after their wedding reception, The Oregonian reported in December.

Oregon’s sanctuary laws prohibit local and state police from assisting with immigration enforcement. The December statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated the agency had filed an arrest detainer for Kumar.

Such detainers, commonplace in many states, involve local jail authorities notifying ICE of a person’s release from custody. A jail detainer may also request a hold for up to 48 hours until ICE can take custody, according to ICE’s website.

Seemingly acknowledging the unlikelihood of compliance with such an arrest detainer in Oregon, ICE in December vowed to “make all necessary efforts to bring Kumar into custody should he be released from custody.”

Court records show an April 2 release order for Kumar after security had been set at $250,000. Ten percent of that amount, $25,000, was required to be posted for his release from Deschutes County Jail, and a court filing shows an April 14 “transaction date” of payment.

The release order listed an electronic monitoring requirement for Kumar, and Deschutes County Deputy District Attorney Ben Becker filed a motion April 22 seeking to revoke Kumar’s release, stating that Kumar had failed to comply with electronic monitoring.

However, that same day Becker withdrew the motion. In a court filing, Becker said prosecutors have “reason to believe that the Federal law enforcement agents may have removed Defendant’s GPS bracelet.”

ICE did not respond to an email sent Monday with questions about Kumar.

In January, federal authorities said they would withhold about $158 million in funding from California after finding “substantial non-compliance” with regulations about the issuance of commercial driver’s licenses.

California officials in March announced that under pressure from the Trump administration, they would revoke the commercial driver’s licenses of drivers who “do not have citizenship or lawful permanent resident status,” including “holders of various visas, refugees, and asylees.”

That same month, Oregon officials said they had stopped issuing commercial driver’s licenses to people in the United States without permanent residency or citizenship, The Oregonian reported.

ICE, eyewitness describe Kumar’s detention

In a statement released Tuesday, ICE said:

“On April 2, 2026, Oregon sanctuary politicians refused to cooperate with ICE and RELEASED Kumar back onto the streets of Oregon. On April 22, 2026, ICE arrested Rajinder. Now, he is being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma and has been placed in removal proceedings.”

Lauren Bis, an ICE spokesperson, in a statement Tuesday said:  “Every time sanctuary politicians release a dangerous criminal illegal alien back into our communities, they are gambling with American lives. We are grateful to our ICE law enforcement officers who tracked this killer down to ensure he’s permanently removed from America’s highways and can never harm another American family again.”

Andrew Ince, the public defender representing Kumar in the manslaughter case, said his client, like other criminal defendants, should be considered innocent until proven guilty.

In Oregon, with the exception of only a “handful” of criminal charges, “all people have a right to bail,” Ince said.

No special motion was made by attorneys seeking Kumar’s release from jail, Ince said.

If Kumar remains in ICE custody or is deported, Ince said Oregon law doesn’t allow for a trial on such serious charges without the defendant present for the proceedings.

Ince said he “can’t talk about the open case,” declining to provide details about what led to the criminal charges against Kumar.

“It’s still an open case, so there’s not a lot that can be said as far as decision making in this case,” Ince said. He said there’s nothing, to his knowledge, that would prevent the federal government from deporting Kumar before a resolution to the criminal charges.

He said he has not spoken with Kumar since ICE took him into custody.

“I can just say, from my perspective, I’m sad for everyone involved in the case,” Ince said. “Obviously, I feel for my client and the situation he’s in. I’m very aware of the world we live in right now. I feel bad for the victims’ families. There are so many people that have questions right now.”

Lookout Eugene-Springfield spoke Monday evening with a man who described being pulled over by ICE officers on Centennial Street in Bend with Kumar as a passenger.

“That was just a really big shock of my life … I have no word for that moment,” said the man, who spoke on the condition his name not be used out of fear of being targeted by ICE.

As a “green card” holder, the man has a lawful immigration status and was able to show officers his permanent residency card and drive away, he said.

In his own life, he said he had been held in ICE custody at a federal facility, FCI Sheridan, back in 2018.

“I came illegally to United States, but I proved them I deserve to get asylum in the United States,” the man said.

He did not know Kumar well. He said he reached out offering help a few months after Kumar’s arrest after some others encouraged him to do so.

About the fatal crash, he said Kumar told him “he was being inspecting the truck that time, I think so,” and was outside the vehicle when the fatal collision took place.

“If the court reach to a judgment like he’s guilty, he deserves to be punished,” the man said, adding that “somebody deserve justice.”

“Either Rajinder deserve justice, either those husband and wife,” he said. 

But with ICE now having Kumar in custody, there is no judge to decide, he said.

“This is not justice,” he said.

He described Kumar in the few days since being released from jail release as “struggling for his state of mind,” having “bad dreams” and speaking little. While he didn’t ask Kumar about coming to the United States, he said he understood that Kumar has two children around 10 years old living in India, along with a wife and parents there.

Kumar called him from the Tacoma detention center Sunday, the man said, describing Kumar as someone “losing hope.”

The detention has affected others in Bend, where there are maybe only 30 or 40 Indian immigrants, the man said.

In Bend, “We were telling [Kumar] … we had a really good community support here, the people is so awesome here. Like, people is so great,” the man said, adding, “We were telling him we never see ICE here.”

After the ICE detention of Kumar, “We are all scared right now, to be honest with you,” he said.