DHS Honors More Than a Dozen Victims of Illegal-Alien Crime
6th August 2025
t was a warm summer night in New Jersey, and Maria Santos Pleitez was driving her 11-year-old daughter and her daughter’s friend to get milkshakes when a drunken driver slammed into Pleitez’s vehicle, killing her and her daughter.
The other girl was injured, but survived the July 26 crash.
The man charged with driving the other vehicle was 43-year-old Raul Luna-Perez, an illegal alien from Mexico. Luna-Perez has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide and assault by auto following the crash.
Pleitez, 42, and her daughter, Dayanara Cortes, are just two of the more than a dozen victims of illegal-alien crime the Department of Homeland Security is honoring the memories of this week.
“Behind every one of these crimes is a victim and their family left to rebuild their lives after unimaginable loss, suffering, and brutality,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
Elected officials who put non-citizens (and especially illegal invaders) ahead of citizens deserve to be in jail.