A Mexican national who was deported from the United States 16 times has just been sentenced to a year in prison for causing a car accident that resulted in the death of a 64-year-old man in Colorado.
Ignacio Cruz-Mendoza, 47, was arrested in June on charges of vehicular homicide after he allegedly caused a collision in Conifer, Colorado, that resulted in the death of 64-year-old Scott Miller. On Tuesday, June 18, Cruz-Mendoza appeared in Jefferson County District Court and the judge handed him lesser charges related to careless driving, all of which are misdemeanors. On Wednesday, July 31, he appeared in court again and pleaded guilty to those charges before prosecutors were able to officially file felony charges for the same incident.
Cruz-Mendoza was sentenced on Friday, Aug. 30, to a year in prison, a lighter sentence achieved by pleading guilty to the lesser charges despite his actions resulting in someone’s death.
The incident occurred on Highway 285 while he was employed with the Monique Trucking Company and driving the company’s semi-truck, which veered off the highway and resulted in the large cargo of angle and pipe iron spilling from the truck into five cars. One driver suffered severe injuries while Miller was killed inside this vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.
Commenting on the sentence, Miller’s wife told reporters that she was “mad” that the most Cruz-Mendoza could get was a year for “murdering” her husband because the district attorney “refused to charge him” with felonies.
Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that the ex-truck driver was in the US illegally and that he had been deported in the past 16 times over the last 20 years. His first deportation was in May 2002 following an arrest in Oregon, and has been able to sneak back in several times since. ICE now has a detainer on him, which means local law enforcement is to inform ICE officials when Cruz-Mendoza is released so he may be placed in their custody to be deported once again.
Illegal aliens committing crimes, especially crimes resulting in the death of American citizens, has quickly become one of the most contentious issues leading into the 2024 presidential election. For many, the southern border crisis will be the deciding issue at the ballot box.
