(José Niño, Headline USA) An illegal alien now sits behind bars, accused of causing a wrong way crash that ended the lives of a mother and her adult daughter in Montgomery County, Maryland, reports Breitbart News. John Binder’s coverage points out that the tragedy occurred inside a sanctuary jurisdiction that generally refuses to work with federal immigration officers.
Jose Antonio Caballero-Nolasco, a 32-year-old from El Salvador, is now charged with two counts of negligent vehicular manslaughter plus two counts of vehicular homicide involving alcohol. Police say the wreck happened on August 29 after Caballero-Nolasco started driving in the wrong lanes of Interstate 270 and rammed head first into an oncoming car holding four people.
The impact killed 46-year-old Musammat Shamima Begum and her 23-year-old daughter, Areebah Jahin, while leaving Begum’s 8-year-old daughter in critical condition. Reporting from Fox 5 DC fills in more of the picture, noting the family was returning to Burke, Virginia, and that the injured girl’s father was behind the wheel when the other car struck them near Democracy Boulevard. A judge refused bond for Caballero-Nolasco on Monday, calling him a danger to the public, and prosecutors pointed to beer bottles, both empty and full, recovered from inside his car.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin weighed in on the case, saying, “This illegal alien has been charged after a drunk-driving crash that killed a woman and her daughter and injured two others, including an 8-year-old girl, in Montgomery County, Maryland”. He went further in remarks shared through Breitbart, stating, “This tragedy was completely avoidable. Musammat Shamima Begum and Areebah Jahin should still be alive. ICE has lodged a detainer asking officials in Maryland to commit to not releasing this killer back onto our streets. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their family, and for a swift recovery for those who were injured.”
Caballero-Nolasco remains locked up at the Montgomery County Detention Center while Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a detainer on him, a request that would compel local authorities to transfer him into federal custody if he’s ever freed from county jail. Sanctuary policies in Montgomery County often mean such detainer requests go unanswered. Should he be found guilty on all counts, he could face up to 23 years behind bars.
The story gained another layer after news broke that county police dissolved their five person alcohol enforcement team just a day before the crash, a move officials blamed on staffing gaps. Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy addressed the coincidence, saying he wasn’t aware the disbanding announcement was coming and calling it “a cruel irony that this happened the day after that announcement came out.”
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
