A case that’s been working through the Oregon court system since late last year just took a turn nobody on either side of the immigration debate saw coming. Rajinder Kumar, the semi-truck driver charged in a crash that killed a newlywed couple on Highway 20, will be deported to India rather than face his scheduled trial.
The crash happened on November 24, 2025, when Kumar’s rig jackknifed across both lanes of Highway 20 near Brothers, Oregon, at night. A westbound Subaru Outback struck the trailer, killing driver William Micah Carter, 25, and his wife Jennifer Lynn Lower, 24, who had been married just 16 days. Oregon State Police pointed to dark conditions and a lack of active warning equipment around the truck as primary factors in the crash.
Kumar was charged with two counts of first-degree manslaughter and three counts of reckless endangerment. He was in and out of custody over the following months as ICE and Deschutes County officials sorted out jurisdiction, and his criminal trial had been pushed to January 2027. That trial will now never happen.
This one hits differently than most of the crashes we cover here. Two people who’d just started their life together didn’t make it home, and the legal process that was supposed to sort out what happened got cut short by federal removal proceedings instead. Here’s what we know.
How the Crash Unfolded
Investigators say Kumar’s semi-truck jackknifed across both lanes of Highway 20 roughly nine miles east of Brothers, leaving the trailer blocking the road with no flares, cones, or warning lights deployed. The family has emphasized that lack of warning equipment as central to why the crash was fatal.
Authorities have not publicly said what caused the truck to jackknife in the first place.
A Legal Process Cut Short
Kumar had been held on bail that climbed as high as $500,000 before he was released in April, then rearrested by ICE days later. This week’s detention hearing ended with a removal order instead of a path toward trial, closing out the criminal case in Deschutes County without a verdict.
The family says they weren’t permitted to attend the hearing remotely and were told to keep calling the courthouse for updates.
Reactions From Washington and the Family
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden’s office weighed in, arguing that people facing criminal charges in a U.S. court should be tried in that court before removal. The Carter and Lower families have previously said their focus was less on Kumar’s immigration status and more on the decisions made that night on the highway. Both families have pushed for a legal process that lets the facts of the crash be examined in open court, a chance that’s now off the table.
For a lot of us who spend our time following what happens on the road, this one’s a reminder that basic things like flares and warning triangles in a rig aren’t optional extras. They’re the difference between a close call and a tragedy.