SEYMOUR, Ind. — A prosecutor in Indiana used the Laken Riley Act to deport an undocumented immigrant in response to a deadly car accident.
Domingo Juan Juan, a Guatemalan citizen, was in Indiana without authorization. In March 2024, Juan Juan was driving without a license, crossed the center line on US Highway 50 and crashed into the vehicle of Brad Castner, 27, killing him.
According to Indiana Congresswoman Erin Houchin, Jackson County Prosecutor Jeff Chalfant used the recently passed Laken Riley Act to deport him.
“Domingo Juan Juan was not speeding, or under the influence of alcohol, or drugs. Under Indiana law the only charge available to me is operating a vehicle without ever receiving a license,” Chalfant told CNN.
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Additional court records showed Juan Juan had two previous charges for driving without a license, with Chalfant admitting that he’d been given “pre-trial diversion both times due to confusion over his identity.”
That charge is a Class C misdemeanor, the prosecutor said.
The Laken Riley Act, passed after the death of a Georgia college student killed by an undocumented migrant from Venezuela on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens in 2024, was the first bill signed into law by President Donald Trump after taking office.
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After being signed into law, the Laken Riley Act allows the deportation of migrants charged with crimes like burglary, theft, assaulting law enforcement or other crimes that result in serious injury or death. That’s the metric Chalfant told CNN he’d used to have Juan Juan deported.
Following his use of the Laken Riley Act to have Juan Juan taken back to Guatemala, Houchin praised Chalfant and said the case was an example of how the law was supposed to work and criticized the Biden Administration’s policies for allowing incidents like this to continue.
“For four years, Biden’s open border policies allowed millions of illegal aliens to enter our country while the law was not enforced to remove criminals. That has changed under President Trump. Thanks to the Laken Riley Act, dangerous illegal aliens are finally being detained and deported before they can commit more crimes,” Houchin said in a statement.
Houchin also praised Immigration and Customs Enforcement for acting to “secure the removal” of Juan Juan from Indiana and “ensuring his deportation proceedings moved forward swiftly.”
Speaking with CNN, Castner’s sister Kendra offered a tribute to her brother.
“Brad was amazing. He was the best brother. The best uncle that you could have. He was so kind and sweet to everybody. Everybody loved him,” Kendra Castner said.
CNN Newsource contributed to this article.
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