The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is urging North Carolina authorities to detain an illegal immigrant facing charges in a fatal hit-and-run that resulted in three deaths.
Javiel Pena Sola, a Salvadoran national, is accused of hitting and killing three individuals in a vehicle on July 18 in Salisbury before fleeing. According to ICE, he was located with the assistance of a police K-9.
At the scene, two victims were declared dead, and a third succumbed to injuries after being airlifted to a hospital.
Witness Quindel Woods recounted to WSOC-TV, “I heard people screaming … and they pulled the man out; and as they pulled him out, he started screaming.”
Sola’s vehicle was discovered in a creek, and he faces three charges of hit-and-run involving serious injury or death.
ICE has filed a detainer with local authorities to ensure he remains in custody.
Lauren Bis, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), stated that Sola was arrested in 2016 but subsequently released. She mentioned that he entered the US through Arizona in April 2022.
“Although ICE had arrested him in 2016, the Obama Administration RELEASED him into American communities,” Bis remarked. “These deaths were 100% preventable. Open borders and sanctuary policies have deadly consequences.”
Sola’s criminal record includes convictions for reckless endangerment, failing to stop after an accident causing vehicle damage, and driving without a license in Maryland in July 2015, along with an arrest for escaping custody.
Following his arrest in Maryland for escaping custody, Baltimore law enforcement officials complied with an ICE detainer and transferred him to federal agents in March 2016. ICE reported that he was released by the Obama administration two months later.
