The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today released the following statement after the criminal illegal alien responsible for the hit-and-run killing of University of South Carolina Student Nate Baker received only a one-year sentence.  

On April 2, 2025, Rosali Fernandez-Cruz, a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador, struck and killed Baker as he was riding a motorcycle in Richland County, South Carolina near his school campus. He fled the scene of the accident and did not try to render first aid.  

“21-year-old USC student Nathaniel ‘Nate’ Baker was driving a motorcycle when he was hit by a truck driver who fled the scene. The hit-and-run driver, Rosali Isaac Fernandez-Cruz, was in our country illegally and received just 1 year in prison for taking Nate’s precious life. ICE lodged a detainer to ensure as soon as this killer completes his one-year prison sentence that ICE is notified to arrest him and get him OUT of our country,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Nate was a 21-year-old college student with his whole life in front of him. This monster should never have been in our country and has had a final order of removal since 2018.”

This criminal illegal alien entered the U.S. illegally in December 2016 and was released into the country by the Obama administration. An immigration judge issued him a final order of removal in 2018.  

ICE lodged a detainer for this criminal to ensure he is arrested by ICE and removed from the country immediately following his prison sentence. 

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