A 9-month-old boy is dead and his mother and 5-year-old sister remain hospitalized after a parking lot crash in Ocean County, New Jersey, involving a driver who entered the country illegally and was released by the Biden administration, according to authorities.
Maria Cobon-Guzman, 20, of Guatemala, has been charged with manslaughter, operating a vehicle without ever having held a valid driver’s license while involved in a fatal crash, and two counts of assault by auto, police said.
The crash happened around noon on August 28, when a woman walking through a grocery store parking lot with her infant son and young daughter was struck by Cobon-Guzman’s vehicle, according to police. All three victims were taken to a nearby hospital, where the boy was pronounced dead. His mother and sister are listed in stable condition.
A second woman, Ariadana Lazaro-Flores, 22, of Mexico, was arrested and charged with knowingly engaging in conduct creating a substantial risk of death or injury. Police say Lazaro-Flores admitted she knew Cobon-Guzman did not have a driver’s license but let her drive the vehicle anyway.
Immigration histories
Cobon-Guzman crossed the southern border illegally in 2023 and was released into the United States under Biden administration policy, according to Border Hawk News. A federal immigration judge had ordered her deported less than a month before the crash that killed the infant.
Lazaro-Flores crossed the border illegally five times in October 2023, each time being returned to Mexico, before successfully crossing again at a later, unspecified date, per the same reporting.
Both women now have ICE detainers lodged against them. New Jersey’s status as a sanctuary state limits cooperation between local jails and federal immigration authorities.
A Department of Homeland Security official told Border Hawk News the case illustrates the human cost of the prior administration’s border policies.
“An innocent baby would still be alive today had it not been for Joe Biden’s disastrous open border and reckless immigration policy that released countless illegal aliens into our country,” the official said. “We are urging the Ocean County Jail to honor ICE’s detainers on these two criminal illegal aliens to take them out of American communities once and for all.”
It remains to be seen whether Ocean County will honor the detainers given New Jersey’s sanctuary policies restricting such cooperation.
