Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2025
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by Outside Contributor
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The tragic deaths of two American teenagers at the hands of an illegal alien were “completely preventable,” according to a top Department of Homeland Security official.
Illegal alien Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiano was deported from the U.S. twice before being “convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, which resulted in the death of a young American couple,” Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary, told The Daily Signal. “This criminal illegal alien should have never been in our country.”
Ortega-Anguiano was sentenced to 10 years in prison after crashing into a vehicle on a freeway in Orange County, Calif., in 2021, claiming the lives of Anya Varfolomeev and Nicholay Osokin, who were both 19 at the time.
The parents of the teens were informed on Easter Sunday that the man responsible for their children’s deaths would be released from prison early.
“Sanctuary state California is letting [Ortega-Anguiano] out after serving just three years of a 10-year prison sentence,” McLaughlin said. “[Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has placed a detainer with the California Department of Corrections. We hope California law enforcement will work us to ensure this criminal alien is not released into American communities.”
Given California’s “sanctuary” policies, it’s unclear whether the state will cooperate with ICE.
A U.S. attorney in Los Angeles is seeking to put Ortega-Anguiano behind bars for an additional 20 years for violating U.S. immigration laws after California releases him from prison.
“My office has filed a felony immigration charge against this defendant,” Bilal Essayli, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, wrote on X on Wednesday, referring to the illegal alien.
“If the state of California will not seek the full measure of justice against this individual, the [Department of Justice] will,” the attorney added.
“This is absolutely unconscionable,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X in response to the Fox News report breaking the story of his impending release.
Bondi pledged that the Justice Department will work with ICE “to make sure this illegal alien receives full punishment for his crimes.”
Ortega-Anguiano was drunk, high, and driving nearly 100 mph when he crashed into the young couple, who are reported to have been burned alive inside their vehicle.
“You had two young, productive American citizens killed for nothing, and that illegal immigrant, who already has been deported twice, is going to be released again,” Anatoly Varfolomeev, Anya Varfolomeev’s father, said in an interview with Fox News.
“All those dreams were cut short just by one person who was not even supposed to be on that freeway,” the father added.
The California Department of Corrections has not confirmed Ortega-Anguiano’s impending release, but acknowledged that prisoners can have their time behind bars shortened for completing rehabilitation programs.
Ortega-Anguiano has a lengthy criminal history and entered the U.S. illegally multiple times.
In 2014, an immigration judge ordered Ortega-Anguiano removed, ICE told Fox News. The illegal alien then “filed several unsuccessful appeals and was taken into ICE custody Dec. 2, 2016, and removed to Mexico the same day,” according to ICE.
“Ortega attempted to reenter the United States Feb. 2, 2018, near Otay Mesa, California, by presenting a counterfeit document,” the ICE statement continued. “He was paroled into the U.S. pending criminal prosecution for illegal reentry after removal. An immigration official issued Ortega an expedited removal order and removed him on June 1, 2018, to Mexico; after his latest removal, he again illegally reentered the U.S. on an unknown date and location. ICE issued a detainer with the Orange County Jail, California, Nov. 27, 2021, where he was being held on vehicular manslaughter charges at the time.”
Before the crash that left Varfolomeev and Osokin dead, Ortega-Anguiano was convicted of burglary in 2005, car theft in 2007, and “battery on spouse with kidnapping in 2014,” according to ICE.
Border czar Tom Homan told Fox News he will place the illegal alien in federal custody upon his release from prison in California and will pursue prosecuting Ortega-Anguiano for illegal reentry into the U.S.
Virginia Allen is a senior news producer for The Daily Signal and host of “The Daily Signal Podcast” and “Problematic Women.” Send an email to Virginia.
Reprinted with permission from The Daily Signal by Virginia Allen.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
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