Ernst, Fischer demand answers about immigration officials’ involvement in fatal drunken driving case

U.S. Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Deb Fischer (R-NE) sought answers on Friday about why an undocumented immigrant was “not a priority” to immigration officials after an alleged fatal drunken driving crash.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reportedly denied requests from officials in Omaha to detain 19-year-old Eswin Mejia after a fatal drunken driving crash in January. Mejia was released on bail on Feb. 5 and has since failed to report to court hearings.

In a letter to ICE Director Sarah Saldana, U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Ernst and Fischer demanded an explanation as to why ICE didn’t deem the detention of Mejia a high priority.

Saldana testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that immigration officials elected not to detain Mejia because they didn’t have enough time to respond and because the victim, 21-year-old Sarah Root, had not yet died from her injuries.

“We are baffled by (Saldana’s) testimony that when drunk driving results in serious injury it may not be an enforcement priority, but when it results in death it is,” the senators wrote. “We would appreciate a full explanation as to why (Mejia) would be an enforcement priority today, but was not an enforcement priority on February 5, 2016, when — as we understand it —ICE had all of the same information then that it does now.” 

The senators also requested documents pertaining to the timeline of the agency’s involvement in the case and all ICE documents related to Mejia.