A Missouri crash that killed a mother and her two young children has put border enforcement and accountability into sharp focus. According to reporting by PJ Media, DHS identified the driver as Eldar Skander, an illegal alien from Ukraine. Authorities said he was driving very fast, had a tablet open to YouTube, and struck three vehicles. The victims included a mother and children ages 8 and 4. Five people were injured, and three were killed. Apparently, the road was competing with YouTube for attention, and YouTube won. That is a grim punchline, not a defense of the driver’s conduct.
Libs of TikTok reported that DHS confirmed Skander’s identity and immigration status. The report says Skander was released into the United States in 2023 under the Biden administration after his illegal entry. Police said he appeared to be speeding, failed to slow down, and had YouTube open while driving. He now faces three counts of involuntary manslaughter, and ICE has issued a detainer request. Those charges still have to be resolved in court, but the allegations are serious enough without any political spin added.
Missouri authorities have agreements to cooperate with ICE, according to the report. That gives federal officials a chance to pursue the detainer, unlike in sanctuary states where local cooperation may be limited. The legal process must run its course, but the immigration question is already part of the case because Skander was reportedly released after entering illegally. This is the practical consequence of a release decision that critics of Biden’s border policy have warned about for years.
ICE connected the tragedy directly to the Biden administration’s immigration policy. The agency posted on X on November 11: “Reckless open-border policies have resulted in countless preventable tragedies. Three more innocent American lives were lost. Two children who will never get to grow up, and a mother who will never get to watch them grow,”
ICE also stated, “These deaths were tragic and preventable. No other family should have to endure this loss. This is our WHY.”
In October, DHS General Counsel James Percival told CBS News that “illegal aliens overwhelmingly end up committing more than one violation of our laws, and that one illegal action almost inevitably leads to one or multiple others.” The report uses that statement to argue that illegal entry and other alleged violations cannot be treated as unrelated issues.
The report also cites White-Collar Workers of America, which cited National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data and said illegal alien truck drivers are linked to 814 crash-related deaths annually. The article stresses that the figure covers truck drivers only, excluding deadly crashes involving drunk or distracted illegal aliens in cars. The number is presented as another reason for stricter enforcement, not as an excuse to ignore the individual facts of this case.
Those individual facts are terrible enough: a mother and two children are dead, five people were injured, and a driver faces three involuntary manslaughter charges. The tablet apparently got more attention than the road, which is a spectacularly bad choice behind the wheel. When immigration officials release someone after illegal entry and that person is later accused in a deadly crash, Americans are entitled to demand answers. No slogan about compassion can erase the duty to protect citizens and enforce the law.
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