Trump Admin Intervenes in Case of Illegal Immigrant Convicted of DUI Deaths in California

The Mexican was convicted of killing a young California couple while he was driving intoxicated in 2021.

Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiano in a booking photo. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

The Trump administration is now involved in the case of an illegal immigrant who is set to be released more than six years early from a California jail.

Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiano was recently granted early release after being convicted of killing a California couple in a crash while driving intoxicated in 2021.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed a detainer on the illegal immigrant, and he will immediately be transferred into ICE custody, the agency confirmed on April 23.

“Twice deported illegal alien from Mexico, Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiano, is serving time after being convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, which resulted in the deaths of an American couple,” ICE said in a statement on social media platform X. “His previous criminal convictions include burglary in 2005, vehicle theft in 2007, and battery on a spouse with kidnapping in 2014. After serving just three years of a 10-year sentence, ICE has placed a detainer with the California Department of Corrections upon his release.”

In an emailed statement to NTD, sister media outlet of The Epoch Times, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) confirmed that Ortega-Anguiano was granted early release.

“CDCR can confirm Oscar E. Ortega-Anguiano, 43, was received from Orange County on June 2, 2022,” the department said. “Consistent with the guilty plea out of Orange County, he was sentenced to 10 years for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. He received 334 days of pre-sentence credits for time served locally while awaiting sentencing and is eligible for credit-earning opportunities while incarcerated.”

CDCR also confirmed to NTD that July 2025 would be his earliest possible release date.

“For safety and security reasons, CDCR cannot provide further information on an incarcerated person’s release date or location in advance of their release,” the department stated.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed to cooperate with ICE on the matter.

“After being deported in 2013, this individual unlawfully reentered the US and committed heinous crimes,” the governor’s office wrote in a statement. “A GOP DA then gave him a plea deal instead of pursuing second-degree murder. [The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] will again coordinate with ICE—as they have with 10,000+ inmates—to transfer him before release.”

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who was D.A. at the time of the fatal crash, responded to the governor’s statement with a post on X saying, “This was not a plea deal.”

“This was a defendant who pled to the court and was sentenced by a judge under California law, over the objection of Orange County prosecutors, who unsuccessfully argued for the maximum sentence,” Spitzer said in his statement.

Ortega-Anguiano was speeding while intoxicated on a California freeway when he crashed into a vehicle carrying Anya Varfolomeev and Nicholay Osokin, both 19.

The teen couple should be alive today, The Republican Party of Orange County said in response to the governor’s statement.

“Their lives were cut short in 2021 when a twice-deported illegal immigrant, Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiano, killed them when he was driving 100 mph while drunk and high in Seal Beach,” the O.C. GOP wrote on X. “The Newsom administration tried to blame O.C.’s D.A. this morning, but failed to disclose that policies Newsom and California Democrats pushed dramatically reduced penalties for these kinds of crimes.”

If California doesn’t comply with the ICE detainer, the DOJ is prepared to prosecute the case in federal court, according to the White House.

Bill Essayli, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, announced on X that he is prosecuting Ortega-Anguiano under a federal felony immigration charge. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted, according to Essayli.

Attorney General Pam Bondi called the fatal crash case “absolutely unconscionable” and called for swift justice for the victims’ families.

Friends and family paid tribute to the couple at the time of their deaths. A GoFundMe page described Varfolomeev as a “ray of sunshine” while Pepperdine University referred to Osokin as a “brilliant student.”

From NTD News