White House blasts Twin Cities as ‘sanctuary jurisdictions’ after immigrant’s fatal crash

A deadly incident in Minneapolis involving an Ecuadorean national has drawn indignation from the White House, which is branding Twin Cities leaders as governing over one of the nation’s “sanctuary jurisdictions” that give comfort to undocumented immigrants who commit crimes.

German Adriano Llangari Inga, 35, was charged on May 2 in Hennepin County District Court with criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation in connection with a head-on collision Aug. 3, 2024, that killed Victoria Eileen Harwell, 31, of Minneapolis.

Inga, who was driving without a license, was jailed early on Aug. 4 and released two days later without being charged as the investigation continued.

Once the charges were filed seven months later, Llangari Inga could not be located, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was arrested eight days later at his Minneapolis home on Penn Avenue N. by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and jailed midday Saturday.

Llangari Inga offered “no resistance, but we did have to go into the residence to get him,” Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Megan Larson said Monday.

Llangari Inga remains held in lieu of $150,000 bail ahead of a court hearing Monday afternoon.

Pointing out that Llangari Inga was not turned over to immigration officials soon after the crash and was briefly a fugitive after being charged, White House spokesman Alexander Pfeiffer said in a statement, “An illegal immigrant drove drunk, killed an innocent mother, and was on the run because Democrats didn’t do their most important job: protect their constituents.”

Pfeiffer cited numerous left-leaning Minneapolis officeholders, among them Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, and law enforcement leaders who have gone on the record in not accommodating Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation efforts.

Pfeiffer emphasized that “this is precisely why the Trump administration is taking action to hold these so-called sanctuary jurisdictions accountable.”

For years, Trump has campaigned on a pledge to deport immigrants accused of crimes, some as serious as murder but also as routine as drunken driving. Some of the deportations early in Trump’s return to the White House have been criticized by his political rivals as immoral and at times unconstitutional.

At the time of the crash, Llangari Inga was the subject of an ICE order in 2016 for expedited removal from the United States, Pfeiffer said.

Rather than abide by the order and keep Llangari Inga in jail on behalf of ICE, the Trump spokesman said, the Sheriff’s Office let him go while the investigation into the collision continued.

In a statement, the Sheriff’s Office explained why it did not honor the federal order to keep Inga in custody:

“As per guidance from the MN Attorney General’s Office, HCSO [Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office] cannot lawfully hold individuals in custody based solely on an administrative detainer issued by the Department of Homeland Security or Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If a judicially signed warrant is presented to HCSO, ICE will be notified when it becomes the holding agency. In the absence of such a warrant, individuals must be released once all criminal charges or holds have been resolved.”

According to the charges stemming from the fatal crash:

Surveillance video captured Llangari Inga driving an SUV east on Lowry Avenue N. near James Avenue N., crossing the double, yellow centerline and hitting Harwell’s SUV head-on. One witness told police that Llangari Inga appeared to have been speeding before the collision.

Emergency medical responders took Harwell to a hospital, where she died.

Two people riding with Harwell, her sister and her daughter, suffered less serious injuries.

Officers met with Llangari Inga at the hospital and noticed he smelled of alcohol. Police saw three open beer bottles in his vehicle. Two were in the center console, one empty and one with a trace of beer. A third beer bottle was on the backseat floor.

During the response to the head-on crash, police were alerted to a similar collision about seven blocks away at 34th and Penn avenues N.

Surveillance video revealed that Llangari Inga hit from behind a driver who was waiting on southbound Penn at the intersection to turn right on 34th and kept going. The driver was slightly injured.

Police arrested Llangari Inga that evening and administered a preliminary breath test that measured his blood alcohol content at 0.171%, more than twice the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.

A test of a blood sample collected by police about 2½ hours later found his BAC was 0.141%, still well above the legal limit.

Along with not having a valid license, Llangari Inga also was driving without insurance.