ICE releases NJ driver to face more serious charges for double-fatal DWI crash

🚨ICE took Raul Luna-Perez into custody after announcing he is in the U.S. illegally

🚨His BAC was later determined to be a .19, three times the legal limit during the crash

🚨The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office took him back into custody

ICE has released the driver of an SUV that killed a mother and her young daughter in a head-on crash to the custody of the Ocean County officials after additional charges were filed.

Raul Luna-Perez, 43, of Red Bank, was in the U.S. illegally when he hit a Nissan Sentra driven by Maria Pleitez and her 11-year-old daughter Dayanara Cortes on Cross Street in Lakewood on July 28.

After his arrest, ICE filed an arrest detainer and initiated removal proceedings. Luna-Perez also had been arrested in March and April on DWI charges and a domestic violence charge in 2023, all in Red Bank.

Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said his office's major crimes unit and Lakewood police went to an ICE detention facility in Elizabeth and took back custody of Luna-Perez with ICE's cooperation.

He is being held at the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing during which prosecutors will ask a judge to keep him locked up.

Investigation into deadly crash

A blood alcohol test determined  Luna-Perez's BAC was .19 at the time of the crash, which is approximately three times the legal limit.

Investigators said Luna-Perez was accelerating at 60 mph at the time of the crash. He passed four other vehicles before hitting Pleitez.

Luna-Perez, who was initially charged with two counts of aggravated manslaughter as well as two counts of strict liability vehicular homicide, now faces two new counts of vehicular homicide and one count of assault by auto.

“Thanks to the cooperation of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Luna-Perez has been returned to Ocean County to face these upgraded charges. His return sends a clear message that our federal partners share in our mission to hold those individuals that commit serious crimes accountable – regardless of their immigration status,” Billhimer said.

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DHS blames Murphy immigration policy

After Trump administration officials blamed Gov. Phil Murphy's Immigrant Trust Directive for allowing Luna-Perez to remain in the country, Assemblyman Paul Kanitra, R-Ocean, challenged Attorney General Matt Platkin to debate the policy.

"What justification is there for our bullsh*t “Immigrant Trust Directive” (sanctuary state status) when the vast majority of New Jerseyans want all illegals deported? Why was his life worth more than LEGAL immigrant Maria Pleitez and her daughter Dayanara Cortes who he killed in an allegedly impaired driving incident?"

Murphy's office laid blame for Luna-Perez's presence in the U.S. on the Trump administration.

“The governor believes that Mr. Luna-Perez, who has been arrested multiple times for DUI and domestic violence, should not have been allowed behind the wheel and should have already been deported due to his previous dangerous criminal activity," Murphy spokesman Mahen Gunaratna said.

Platkin said that nothing in the directive would have prevented law enforcement from working with ICE on Luna-Perez's cases. He said that officers work on violent crime cases while ensuring that witnesses can come forward regardless of their immigration status.

“Over the objection of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, the court chose to release Mr. Luna-Perez. To be clear, nothing in the Immigrant Trust Directive would have prevented New Jersey law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials to deport this defendant. And we reiterate that the Immigrant Trust Directive allows for cooperation with ICE in regard to anyone charged with a violent crime or convicted of any indictable offense."

Platkin has not commented on Kanitra's debate challenge.

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