U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is requesting that North Carolina authorities hold Javiel Pena Sola, an immigrant charged in a July 18 hit-and-run that resulted in three fatalities, according to ICE.
Sola, a citizen of El Salvador, is accused of striking a vehicle and killing its three occupants in Salisbury before fleeing the scene. He was apprehended with the assistance of a police K-9. Two victims were pronounced dead at the crash site, and a third died after being airlifted to a hospital. Sola faces three counts of hit-and-run involving serious injury or death.
ICE has placed a detainer on Sola, meaning they want local authorities to keep him in custody. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis stated that Sola entered the United States through Arizona in April 2022. According to ICE, Sola has a criminal history that includes convictions in Maryland in July 2015 for reckless endangerment, failure to stop after an accident involving damage to an attended vehicle, and driving without a license. He was also arrested for escaping from custody. After that arrest, law enforcement officials in Baltimore honored an ICE detainer and transferred him to federal agents in March 2016, but he was released by the Obama administration two months later. Bis attributed the deaths to what she described as "open borders and sanctuary policies."