An Oregon judge has set bail at $1 million for Indian truck driver Rajinder Kumar — an amount his own lawyer called "unattainable" — in a deliberate move to make sure Kumar is not released, deported and lost to the court before his January trial over a fatal Highway 20 crash that killed a newlywed couple. The ruling by Deschutes County Circuit Court Judge Wells Ashby on Monday, October 26, is the latest development in a case Awaaz Punjab has followed since ICE returned Kumar to Deschutes County custody on October 15.
Source: CDL Life / The Bend Bulletin
"The court has a job to do and immigration has a job to do," Judge Ashby said, according to The Bend Bulletin's reporting of the hearing. "It's important to the court that this case proceeds to its conclusion. It's important for the families of the victims and Mr. Kumar. If Mr. Kumar is returned to India before pretrial this case is all but over."
Why the judge raised the bail
Kumar's lawyer argued bail should be set at $250,000, which would have allowed Kumar to post bail and live at a family member's home in Bend, Oregon, while awaiting trial, and described the $1 million figure as "unattainable" for his client. Prosecutor Ben Becker agreed with the judge that the higher amount was appropriate. "The defendant's removal from the U.S. is imminent on removal from Deschutes County custody," Becker said. "Given the risks, increased (bail) is appropriate." ICE has said that once the state criminal proceedings conclude, it "will pursue Kumar's immigration case consistent with federal law."
The crash on Highway 20
On November 24, 2025, Kumar's semi tractor-trailer jackknifed across U.S. Highway 20 near Brothers, east of Bend in Deschutes County, blocking both lanes. A Subaru Outback collided with the truck. Its driver, William Micah Carter, 25, and his wife, Jennifer Lynn Lower, 24, were killed. The couple had been married for just 16 days. A Deschutes County grand jury indicted Kumar on two counts of first-degree manslaughter and three counts of recklessly endangering another person. He has pleaded not guilty. The charges are allegations until proven in court.
A mother who told the accused she was praying for him
The case drew national attention this week when Elizabeth Carter, the mother of William Micah Carter, addressed Kumar directly in court. Rather than attack the man accused of causing her son's death, she told him she had been praying for him, according to reporting carried by Fox News and the American Bazaar. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Seattle acting field office director Julio Hernandez said in a statement: "Two Americans lost their lives, and their families deserve accountability," adding that ICE worked with local law enforcement to return Kumar to state custody so he answers the charges against him.
Source: American Bazaar
How custody became a fight between the county and ICE
According to ICE and DHS, Kumar, an Indian national, entered the United States without inspection near Lukeville, Arizona, on November 28, 2022, and was released into the country while his immigration case proceeded. He later received federal work authorisation and obtained a California commercial driver's licence (CDL). After the Oregon indictment, ICE lodged an immigration detainer with the Deschutes County Jail — but the county released Kumar on April 2, 2026, without honouring it, a step ICE attributes to Oregon's sanctuary policies. Federal agents arrested him again on April 22 and held him at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington. Deportation proceedings were then paused so Oregon prosecutors could pursue the criminal case, and ICE transferred him back to Deschutes County on October 15 — the development this follow-up updates.
Kumar now faces two separate processes: the Oregon criminal trial over the deaths of William Carter and Jennifer Lower, and federal removal proceedings that ICE says will resume once the criminal case ends. The $1 million bail decides only the first question — whether he stays in Oregon to face the jury. It does not decide his immigration status, and it is not a finding of guilt.
Why this case matters to Punjabi and Indian truckers
The Kumar case has become a flashpoint in the national argument over non-domiciled CDLs — commercial licences issued to drivers who are not U.S. citizens — an argument that directly affects the tens of thousands of Punjabi and Indian drivers who haul freight on American highways, the overwhelming majority of them legally authorised and safe. Federal regulators have tightened CDL eligibility rules this year and audited state licensing in California, Washington and other states after a series of fatal crashes involving immigrant drivers. Cases like this one are cited by both sides: by officials calling for stricter vetting, and by driver advocates who warn that a whole community's livelihood is being judged by its worst cases.
What happens next
Kumar remains in Deschutes County custody unless the $1 million bail is posted and its conditions — which in earlier proceedings included surrendering a passport — are met. His trial is scheduled to run for nine days starting January 19, 2027, in Deschutes County Circuit Court. If he is acquitted, ICE has said his removal case will proceed; if he is convicted, any sentence would be served before immigration authorities act on his status.