DELAND, Fla. — A car crash turned into a full-on immigration case out of Volusia County. It happened on March 14th, just before 7 am. Deland police said 32-year-old Wendy Alejandra Acosta Esparza was driving east on International Speedway Boulevard.
When she passed by Jacobs Road, she allegedly hit a pedestrian who was on a bicycle. By the time police arrived at the scene, they found out Esparza didn’t have a driver’s license, and it all unraveled from there.
“We checked the rest of the country to see if she had any other identification, and she didn’t,” said Chris Graham, Community Information Manager, DeLand. “Under guidance from the state, we had to contact ICE.”
The woman was taken to the Volusia County Jail and charged with a misdemeanor. Later on, investigators found out she was undocumented.
“The Immigration Service has gotten really, really good about interacting with county jails throughout the state and really throughout the United States in seeing that somebody who is brought into the jail is run through the immigration system, said David Stoller, an immigration attorney in Orlando.
Esparza, originally from Mexico, was issued an immigration detainer, which basically means she will still have to deal with her immigration case on top of the criminal case.
The attorney says that’s standard procedure.
“While she may have been here for some time, I think the Immigration Service has no idea who she is,” Stoller said.
Esparza will remain in jail until her next court date, scheduled for May, regarding the car crash case.
Only after that, will she find out if she will be able to stay in the U.S. or not.
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