ICE Detainer: Illegal Immigrant Gets 1-Year For USC Student Hit-And-Run, Deportation Next

Rosali Fernandez-Cruz, a noncitizen from El Salvador, pleaded guilty to a hit-and-run that killed University of South Carolina student Nathaniel Baker and received a one-year prison sentence. Records show he was previously apprehended by Border Patrol in 2016 and ordered deported by an immigration judge in 2018. Upon release in March 2026, he is expected to be transferred to ICE custody to begin removal proceedings; the victim’s family supported the plea and sought to avoid politicization.