Elizabeth Carter, a lifelong Democrat, is calling on her own party to reconsider its approach to immigration enforcement after her son and daughter-in-law were killed in a highway crash involving a truck driver who had entered the country illegally.
Carter’s son, William Micah “Billy” Carter, 25, and his wife, Jennifer Lynn Lower Carter, 24, died in November 2025 when their Subaru collided with a tractor-trailer that had jackknifed across both lanes of U.S. Highway 20 in Oregon. The couple had been married just 16 days.
“I was shocked and heartbroken to hear that the man responsible for our son and daughter-in-law’s death, the driver of the 18-wheeler that they collided with, that he was a part of Biden’s catch-and-release policy,” Carter said Thursday on Fox News’ “Hannity.”
The truck’s driver, Rajinder Kumar, an Indian national, was charged after the crash and has pleaded not guilty. Federal immigration officials who later took him into custody say he crossed into the United States illegally near Lukeville, Arizona, in November 2022 and was released by the Biden administration pending immigration proceedings. He subsequently received work authorization and a commercial driver’s license issued in California, according to Houston’s FOX 26.
“If it weren’t for that, our son and daughter-in-law would still be alive,” Carter said, placing blame on both federal and state policies she says allowed the chain of events to unfold.
Testimony on Capitol Hill
Carter’s remarks followed an appearance on Capitol Hill Tuesday, where she urged lawmakers to change immigration policy.
“[My son and daughter-in-law] lost the Russian roulette game our government is forcing them to play,” she said. “We allowed 10 million people in under Biden. How is there a different suggestion as to how to process them other than the same way they came into the country, en masse, leaving?”
“I have to say, as a lifelong Democrat, I am ashamed of what my party is doing,” Carter said.
A husband’s frustration over licensing
Carter’s husband, Dennis, who described himself as a lifelong Republican, directed his criticism at the process that allowed Kumar to obtain a commercial driver’s license in California.
“Just because someone is incompetent and can’t do the job that they wanted to do, just because they got here, that doesn’t mean, ‘Okay, they’re here, we should give them a job that they can’t do and just turn them loose on the road,'” he said.
Despite their differing party affiliations, Dennis said the couple’s marriage shows political disagreement need not become personal conflict. “We have learned that the two parties can exist in the same household, and we actually get along,” he said. Elizabeth agreed, saying the two know “how to disagree without tearing each other apart” and instead work to understand each other’s positions on divisive issues.
Elizabeth Carter closed her appeal with a direct challenge to Democratic leaders, urging the party to “grow up” and improve coordination with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the state level.
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