US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has returned Indian national Rajinder Kumar, 32, to the Deschutes County Jail in Bend, Oregon, to face trial over a November 2025 tractor-trailer crash that killed a newlywed couple. ICE announced the transfer on October 18; local outlet Lookout Eugene-Springfield reported Kumar arrived back in Bend on Thursday, October 15.

Kumar has been indicted on two counts of first-degree manslaughter and three counts of recklessly endangering another person. The charges are pending, he has pleaded not guilty, and he has not been convicted.

According to Oregon State Police reporting, on the night of November 24, 2025, at about 9:30 p.m., Kumar's Freightliner tractor-trailer allegedly jackknifed on U.S. Highway 20 near milepost 51, near Brothers east of Bend, blocking both lanes; a westbound Subaru Outback struck the trailer. The driver, William Micah Carter, 25, and his wife Jennifer Lynn Lower, 24, died at the scene; the couple had married just 16 days earlier. Investigators said darkness and the absence of active emergency warning equipment were being considered as contributing factors.

ICE says it lodged an immigration detainer after Kumar's initial arrest, but Deschutes County released him in April 2026 without honouring it — that account is ICE's; ICE says its officers arrested him again on April 22, 2026. He is being held in the county jail, with local reporting putting his trial in January 2027.

ICE says Kumar was apprehended by US Border Patrol near Lukeville, Arizona, on November 28, 2022, after entering the United States from Mexico, and was placed in removal proceedings; the Department of Homeland Security says he later received work authorization and was issued a commercial driver's licence by California.

ICE ERO Seattle acting Field Office Director Julio S. Hernandez said: "Two Americans lost their lives, and their families deserve accountability." Lookout Eugene-Springfield reported that the victim's mother, Elizabeth Carter, spoke briefly to Kumar as he arrived in Bend on October 15, in a meeting arranged by ICE's Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement Office.

ICE says deportation proceedings will stay on hold until the state criminal case concludes, after which it will pursue his immigration case under federal law.

Sources: ICE statement and ICE post on X (@ICEgov), October 18, 2026; ANI; Lookout Eugene-Springfield; Oregon State Police via local reporting.