Elizabeth Carter, a self-described lifelong Democrat, gave tearful testimony to a US House Judiciary subcommittee criticising her own party's immigration policies after her son, his new wife and their cat were killed in a crash involving a lorry driven by a man illegally in the country. Billy Carter and Jenny Lower had been married for just 16 days when they died last November in Oregon, returning from a wedding reception when their car hit a jackknifed lorry. The case has become a flashpoint in the US immigration debate, with Republicans citing it as evidence for stricter enforcement and sanctuary policies being blamed for the driver's release before the crash.

The lorry was driven by Rajinder Kumar, 32, from India, who had entered the US illegally near Lukeville, Arizona, in November 2022 and was later issued a commercial driving licence in California and a work permit under the Biden administration. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Oregon's sanctuary policies meant local authorities did not cooperate when Kumar was jailed, and he was released in April 2026 before ICE later took him into custody. Kumar faces a first-degree manslaughter charge and is being held at a Washington state processing centre pending removal proceedings, while Carter told lawmakers her family had "lost the Russian roulette game our government is forcing them to play."