Another criminal illegal immigrant free to drive drunk due to lenient sanctuary policies caused a deadly crash in New Jersey that killed a mother and her 11-year-old daughter.
Raul Luna-Perez, 43, is a Mexican national who was previously arrested for domestic violence and two prior DUIs earlier this year.
Raul Luna Perez, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico, caused a deadly crash in New Jersey that killed a mother and her 11-year-old daughter. Another child was hospitalized.
Governor Murphy and his sanctuary policies released this serial criminal into New Jersey communities.… pic.twitter.com/YeFuxGtJ8b
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 4, 2025
Local police suspected him of driving under the influence again, resulting in the deadly head-on collision in Lakewood Township, N.J., on July 26, according to News 12 New Jersey.
Luna-Perez, of Red Bank, N.J., was charged on July 27 with two counts of vehicular homicide and assault by auto by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, Shore News Network reported. He did not have an active ICE immigration detainer at the time of the accident.
Police believe Luna-Perez crossed into oncoming traffic and struck another vehicle head-on, killing a 42-year-old mother and her 11-year-old daughter. Another 11-year-old girl riding in the back seat was hospitalized following the crash but recovered, authorities said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged an arrest detainer for Luna-Perez on July 28 following the fatal accident, per a news release from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
ICE has initiated removal proceedings while Luna-Perez remains in custody on the homicide charge.
“Governor (Phil) Murphy and his sanctuary policies released this serial criminal into New Jersey communities,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement. “Now, this innocent family is shattered by their failed leadership.”
The New York Post named the victims as Maria Pleitez and her daughter, Dayanara Cortes, and said more than 100 mourners gathered Saturday, Aug. 2, at the Lakewood Funeral Home in Howell to pay their respects.
Pleitez was driving the two girls to a Wawa to get milkshakes at around 11:20 p.m. July 26 in Lakewood when the crash occurred.
Pleitez died at the scene. Her youngest daughter, Dayanara Cortes, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, was pronounced dead at the hospital.
In another article, The New York Post reported Luna-Perez’s rap sheet dates back to 2008, when the Red Bank Police Department arrested him for disorderly conduct.
He was charged with assault on Jan. 2, 2023, in Red Bank. That same month, Luna-Perez was arrested again in Red Bank for leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage, and failure to report an accident, The Post reported.
The suspect has been roaming free despite two DUI arrests in March and April of this year, and a domestic violence arrest in June 2023 — all in Red Bank, according to records.
Red Bank never officially declared itself a “sanctuary city,” but officials there adopted a 2017 resolution stating its support for migrants, The Post reported.
Luna-Perez entered the U.S. illegally at an unknown date and location, according to DHS. This is another example of failed immigration policies and why “DHS law enforcement is protecting American communities every day from another senseless tragedy like this taking place in another town, to another family.”
“President Trump and Secretary Noem will continue to do everything in their power to remove these criminal illegal aliens before they destroy more lives,” McLaughlin added.
Pleitez’s niece, Maria del Carmen Pleitez, bemoaned his prior arrests at the funeral, The Post reported. She told The Post her aunt was a hardworking, cat-loving, doting US citizen who immigrated from El Salvador 24 years ago.
Maria Pleitez spent years working in the painting department of Superior Promotional Bags, a Toms River promotional products supplier, the niece said. She was working hard to raise her two daughters and never asked for help for anything.
“She was a happy person,” Pleitez, 39, said. “She would come to a place, or she would come to our homes, and just bring happiness. She was never angry, never sad. She always had the strength to continue going, and that’s what hurts, because the guy had two DUIs already.”
New Jersey is among several sanctuary states that allow criminals back on the streets with lenient policies and low bails. While Red Bank has never declared itself a “sanctuary city,” officials there adopted a 2017 resolution stating its support for migrants, The Post reported.
Since 2018, New Jersey has had a statewide Immigrant Trust Directive, with new mandates designed to foster cooperation and “strengthen trust between law enforcement officers and immigrant communities.” One of those bars police from questioning suspects about their immigration status.
News 12 posted a statement from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat:
“The Governor believes that Mr. Luna-Perez, who has been arrested multiple times for DUI and domestic violence, should not have been allowed behind the wheel and should have already been deported due to his previous dangerous criminal activity,” a spokesperson for Murphy’s office wrote in a statement.
Luna-Perez’s Dodge Durango crossed into oncoming traffic and slammed into Maria Santos Pleitez’s Nissan Sentra in the horrific July 26 wreck.
Shore News Network reported that responding officers reported signs of impairment in Luna-Perez, who was later transported to the hospital for a blood draw under a court-authorized warrant. Luna-Perez’s two passengers sustained minor injuries and were treated and released.
