U.S. immigration authorities have taken custody of a Mexican woman accused of manslaughter and child abuse in a rollover crash that killed her 9-year-old daughter and injured her three younger children, after local prosecutors declined to file charges.
Brenda Liliana Rivera-Estrada, 30, was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on April 16 after Maricopa County prosecutors declined to pursue the local charges, ICE said in a Monday release.
Brenda Liliana Rivera-Estrada was arrested by police in Arizona on charges of manslaughter and child abuse, but Maricopa county prosecutors declined to file charges.
ICE officers picked her up pursuant to an honored detainer, and she will be held in ICE detention pending a… pic.twitter.com/pvkbX4J4L5
— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) May 18, 2026
During her initial court appearance, a prosecutor detailed the allegations stemming from the April 12 single-vehicle rollover on northbound Interstate 17 near Peoria Avenue.
Four children were in the vehicle at the time of the collision,” the prosecutor said. “One of the children, a 9-year-old, was ejected from the vehicle and she did pass away. There were three other children in the vehicle that were injured as well.”
Early media reports indicate that eye-witnesses saw the vehicle speeding and passing other vehicles erratically before the rollover. Officers reportedly detected the strong scent of marijuana emanating from the vehicle, the prosecutor told the court, adding that Rivera-Estrada had admitted to smoking marijuana.
“The suspect chose to get in the vehicle where she was allegedly under the influence of marijuana,” the prosecutor continued. “Multiple witnesses stated that she was driving above the posted speed limit, which was 65. They said that she was passing vehicles. She was driving recklessly.”
Rivera-Estrada was charged with one count of manslaughter, a class two felony, and four counts of class three felony child abuse charges. A judge found probable cause for the charges, and ordered pre-trial services, including check-ins and monitoring for marijuana and alcohol use.
While the state had requested a $200,000 cash bond, citing concerns for the surviving children and the community, the judge ultimately set bond at $100,000. Prosecutors later declined to file the charges, leading to her release from local custody before ICE took her into custody via a detainer.
Rivera-Estrada entered the U.S. on Feb. 14, 2009, through Nogales as a nonimmigrant border-crosser authorized for up to 30 days but overstayed, ICE said. She remains in federal immigration detention pending proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration Review.
ICE officers encountered Rivera-Estrada at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Intake, Transfer and Release facility the day she was booked. The agency maintains a presence there as part of its Criminal Alien Program, which screens individuals and facilitates transfers of those subject to removal.
“The identification and arrest of Brenda Liliana Rivera-Estrada by ICE underscores the importance of the Criminal Alien Program and highlights the public safety efforts undertaken by officers with Enforcement and Removal Operations,” ERO Phoenix Deputy Field Office Director Alejandro Almeida said in the release.
“Her fate now rests with the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, and any available administrative or judicial appellate recourse, which will determine her eligibility to remain in the United States,” Almeida added.
The case has renewed local debate over immigration enforcement, prosecutorial discretion and cooperation between local authorities and federal immigration officials.
Rivera-Estrada faces potential removal from the country if immigration judges determine she is ineligible to remain. The incident comes amid heightened federal focus on public safety threats posed by individuals in the country illegally who are accused of serious crimes.
