As ICE returns trucker to face manslaughter charges, victim’s mother confronts him

When Rajinder Kumar arrived Thursday, Oct. 15, in Bend for his transfer to the Deschutes County Jail, the truck driver, who is charged with manslaughter, heard from Elizabeth Carter.

Carter lost her son, William “Billy” Carter, 25, and daughter-in-law Jennifer Lynn Lower, 24, last Nov. 24 when they crashed into Kumar’s jackknifed truck on Highway 20 near Bend. The newlywed couple had been on their way to start their married lives together in Springfield.

Elizabeth Carter spoke to Kumar from “a respectful distance,” she said, as Kumar was seated in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle.

“I started it by saying, ‘My name is Elizabeth Carter. I am the mother of William Micah Carter. We called him Billy,’” Carter said in a phone interview Friday.

“And the second, I said ‘Billy,’ yeah, he looked at me, and his eyes got big, and then he looked down,” Carter said. “And there was no more eye contact.”

The moment, arranged by the Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement Office, a part of ICE, helped her feel “one step closer to justice,” she said.

She said she had doubted whether Kumar, who has pleaded not guilty, would ever return to Oregon. 

The criminal case against him vaulted into the national spotlight because of Kumar’s unlawful immigration status, as officials in the administration of President Donald Trump criticized California for granting Kumar a commercial driver’s license while he was in the country without authorization.

ICE officers arrested Kumar April 22 in Bend after his release on bond from the Deschutes County Jail.

Carter and her husband Dennis, who are Springfield residents, pleaded for Kumar’s return to face criminal charges rather than be deported to his home country of India.

Michael Kagan — who is Joyce Mack professor of law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and director of the university’s Immigration Clinic — said in an email Friday that he had no definitive data on how frequently a person is returned by ICE to a state’s custody to face criminal charges.

“But from my knowledge of these issues, I would say that this is rare, but not exceptional,” Kagan said, adding that “it would not surprise me” if the public pleas from Elizabeth Carter were a factor in the decision.

At a Sept. 15 House Judiciary Committee hearing, Carter said: “People born in our country deserve a fair trial if their life is lost, and having to fight and beg for that has been a great injustice and left me feeling betrayed by my government.”

Carter has said faith and family were important to her son and his wife, who met at a gathering for young adults who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

They had little interest in following politics, she said. Billy “would be so disappointed that his life and death has been shrunk to a political issue,” Carter told Lookout Eugene-Springfield earlier this month.

‘Some measure of peace’

Prosecutors allege Kumar “unlawfully and recklessly” caused the two deaths. Few details have been officially released about what took place just before the collision. But Oregon State Police after the crash listed dark conditions and “a lack of active emergency warning equipment” as primary factors.

Federal immigration authorities in a news release Thursday announced Kumar’s return to Oregon.

“Two Americans lost their lives, and their families deserve accountability,” Julio S. Hernandez, acting director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Seattle field office, said in a statement. “ICE worked closely with law-enforcement partners to ensure Kumar is returned to state custody to answer for the serious charges against him.”

Hernandez stood by Carter when she spoke to Kumar, she said, as did her oldest son, Dani.

Carter said she told Kumar she knew he did not wake up that day in November planning to end a newly formed family. She told him that she and her family pray for him and his family.

“I said that I hope he finds some measure of peace,” Carter said. She said she’s unsure how much English Kumar understands.

“Then it (the ICE vehicle) drove in, and then I was able to follow a little ways and see that he went from the vehicle through a locked door, through a door that locked behind him.” Carter said.

It’s her hope that the door stays locked through the resolution of the criminal case. She said she’s worried what might happen if Kumar is again released on bond, as he was in April.

If picked up by ICE again, Carter said she thinks he will be deported rather than face the criminal charges.

The Deschutes County District Attorney’s office earlier this month filed a motion for an arrest warrant, though Steve Gunnels, the county’s district attorney, told Lookout it would be up to federal authorities whether Kumar would be returned to Oregon.

Deschutes County Circuit Judge Wells Ashby issued the order for a “Nationwide Warrant” that also set security for Kumar at $1 million, which means 10%, or $100,000 would be required for his release.

A pretrial release court hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 23.

In an email Friday, Gunnels said Kumar’s trial remains scheduled for January.

Kumar pleaded not guilty March 30 in Deschutes County Circuit Court to two counts of manslaughter, and not guilty to three misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person.

Carter, in her Sept. 15 testimony before the House committee, also criticized the granting of a commercial driver’s license to Kumar and what she referred to as “catch-and-release” immigration policy. 

U.S. Border Patrol officers in 2022 captured Kumar near Lukeville, Arizona, after he entered the United States without authorization, according to information from the Department of Homeland Security. He was placed in court proceedings for his removal. Online records show a deportation order entered earlier this year.

The news release from the Department of Homeland Security stated that after the criminal case, ICE “will pursue Kumar’s immigration case consistent with federal law.”