Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lodged a detainer for Javiel Pena Sola, an illegal immigrant charged in a deadly hit-and-run that killed three people on July 18, 2026, in Salisbury, North Carolina. ICE is urging local authorities to keep Sola behind bars amid the ongoing investigation.

Sola, a Salvadoran citizen, allegedly struck and killed three individuals traveling in a vehicle before fleeing the scene. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis stated that Sola was arrested in 2016 but was released. She also noted that he entered the United States through Arizona in April 2022.

"Although ICE had arrested him in 2016, the Obama Administration RELEASED him into American communities," Bis said.

Sola's criminal history includes prior convictions for reckless endangerment, failure to stop after an accident involving damage to an attended vehicle, and driving without a license in Maryland in July 2015, as well as an arrest for escaping from custody. After his arrest in Maryland on charges of escaping from custody, law enforcement officials in Baltimore honored an ICE detainer and turned him over to federal agents in March 2016.

In a related report, Claudia Cowan covered a deadly semi-truck crash in Lodi, California, where illegal immigrant Manveer Singh is charged with vehicular manslaughter. DHS confirmed Singh was caught and released at the Arizona border in 2023. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and federal officials have called for "Delilah's Law," which would prohibit commercial driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

A statement reflecting on the Salisbury incident said, "These deaths were 100% preventable. Open borders and sanctuary policies have deadly consequences."

Sources