Two children were killed within a week in separate traffic incidents in San Diego County, California, a super sanctuary county. Both cases involve suspects who are in the country illegally. The tragedies unfolded during Thanksgiving week and have renewed questions about the public safety impact of state laws that limit cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.
One of the horrific accidents occurred near Julian, California on the Sunday after Thanksgiving where an 8-year-old girl identified in court documents as Aria died in a head-on collision on a roadway crowded with families returning from the desert after the long holiday weekend. Seven people, including other children, were sent to the hospital, some with major injuries. One adult is considered paralyzed, according to the San Diego District Attorney.
The suspect is 25-year-old Bryan Josue Alva Rodriguez. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he had two prior DUI arrests, one in 2020 and one in 2021. ICE stated that an immigration judge ordered him deported in 2023 but he did not leave the country.
The agency said he illegally entered the United States on February 8, 2018 and was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol in Calexico. He was issued a notice to appear before an immigration judge and released while his case moved through the system.
ICE stated that after the two DUI arrests, an immigration judge ordered him removed on March 16, 2023, but he did not depart the country. The result is that an innocent life has now been lost in a tragedy that could have been prevented.
ICE added that it is tracking the case closely and will continue efforts to pursue and remove dangerous individuals who threaten public safety.
IW Features interviewed a family driving home from the holiday weekend and witnessed the crash as it happened. Their account illustrates the chaos and fear that unfolded on the roadside.
“We were there. We rolled up on it just as it was happening maybe 10 RVs back. Imagine Sunday with everyone leaving Ocotillo after Thanksgiving weekend. It was a long stream of RVs heading home,” one of the family members recalled. “I watched this guy pass us on double yellows and all of the RVs in front of us weaving in and out. It was such a terrible scene. People were screaming if anyone knew CPR as they were pulling the children out of the car. They said a 3-year-old needed it. My family did not make it home that night because we had to turn around and go back to Ocotillo to camp one more night because the roads were closed until almost midnight.”
Days earlier, another child died in a separate incident in Escondido, California. Eleven-year-old Aiden Antonio Torres de Paz was struck by a vehicle while chasing a soccer ball across East Washington Avenue near the apartment complex where he lived. The driver fled the scene. Aiden died the next morning on Thanksgiving Day.
Authorities arrested the suspect, 44-year old Hector Amador Balderas. DHS identified him as a Mexican national who has been removed from the United States four times: three times in 2004 and again in 2010. Balderas pleaded not guilty in Vista Superior Court to felony hit and run. Prosecutors requested that his bail be increased from $100,000 to $300,000, arguing that he fled the scene, is “transient,” and could again evade authorities. Judge Valerie Summers approved the increase.
DHS confirmed that ICE attempted to place an immigration detainer on Balderas to allow federal agents to take custody before any potential release from county jail. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office rejected the detainer request, citing limitations under the California Values Act, also known as the State Sanctuary law. California state law prohibits local law enforcement from honoring immigration detainers unless specific criteria are met, such as qualifying serious or violent felony convictions or a federal judicial warrant. The Sheriff’s Office said it reviewed Balderas’ record and determined it could not legally honor the ICE request.
“Thanksgiving should be a day of celebrating family and giving gratitude, but instead the family of Aiden Antonio Torres De Paz mourned this beautiful child’s death because a criminal illegal alien stole his life. Now, sanctuary laws threaten to put this killer back onto California’s streets,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement. “Hector Balderas-Aheelor was previously removed FOUR times before he chose to commit a felony and illegally re-entering the country a fifth time. Gavin Newsom, we are calling on YOU to do the right thing and honor ICE’s arrest detainer.”
Federal authorities voiced concern that restrictions on taking custody of individuals who have been removed from the country multiple times hinder their ability to enforce immigration laws. DHS said it continues to seek cooperation from agencies throughout California and emphasized that state sanctuary policies can block federal intervention before someone reoffends.
In response, the governor’s office said federal agents are fully able to carry out their own actions and that California complies with federal criminal warrants. ICE has countered that when local agencies do not notify them, people who are eligible for removal often move through the system unnoticed, reducing the agency’s ability to detain individuals who may threaten public safety.
Indeed, two families in San Diego County are now grieving children whose deaths occurred within days of one another. Both cases involve drivers who authorities say should not have been in the country. Both involve immigration histories marked by prior removals or repeated arrests. And both have intensified debate over the impact of state policies that restrict cooperation between local and federal agencies at moments when coordination could determine whether a dangerous individual remains in the community.
