An Indiana mother was allegedly killed in a drunk-driving hit-and-run involving a Honduran national who entered the United States unlawfully during the Biden administration, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Tamara Thomas, 33, was waiting in the parking lot of an Indianapolis gas station Saturday when she was struck by a vehicle allegedly driven by Edwin Alexander Sosa-Gonzalez, DHS said.
According to police records reviewed by the Indianapolis Star, the 22-year-old was speeding in a gray Honda CR-V when he hit another vehicle. The collision sent his SUV over the curbs.
Thomas, who had been waiting for her two brothers to pick her up, tried to move out of the way. She was struck by the Honda and pronounced dead at the scene.
Sosa-Gonzalez allegedly drove away but was arrested several hours later. Investigators said he smelled of alcohol, was stumbling and had slurred speech, according to court documents.
Authorities said his blood alcohol concentration measured 0.229, nearly three times Indiana’s legal limit. He was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
DHS said Sosa-Gonzalez also faces charges for leaving the scene of an accident involving death or catastrophic injury, as well as leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.
Sosa-Gonzalez entered the United States illegally through Texas in July 2021, DHS said. He was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol and later released during the Biden administration.
He was subsequently placed in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after a February 2024 arrest involving allegations that he drove while intoxicated and without ever obtaining a driver’s license.
ICE filed a detainer Sunday, one day after the fatal crash. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin also criticized the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
“This illegal alien, who had been released into our country by the Biden Administration, took the life of 33-year-old Tamara Renee Thomas because he was drunk behind the wheel,” Mullin said.
“He has now been charged with hit-and-run and driving under the influence.
“ICE has lodged a detainer asking officials in Indiana to cooperate with us and make sure this killer never gets back onto the streets again.
“This disaster was completely avoidable, and were it not for the reckless open-border policies of the Biden Administration, this woman would still be alive. My thoughts and prayers are with Tamara’s family and friends.”
Tamara’s father, Tommy Thomas, said he intends to provide his daughter with the best funeral possible. He also spoke about his regret over the role he believes he may have played in her difficult life, noting that he previously served prison time for dealing LSD.
“It should’ve never happened,” he told Fox59.
“My daughter’s had a crap life,” he said. “I might have had some part in that at one point in time.
“I wanna give her the best burial, I wanna give her the most proper burial that I can.”
He said he hopes to scatter Tamara’s ashes in Hawaii if the family chooses cremation.
Tommy Thomas was candid about how his daughter, who dropped out of school before she reached the seventh grade, had struggled with drugs – but said she had “recently started getting clean.”
He lamented how Thomas, who was a mom to a son, was killed by an allegedly drunk driver rather than substances.
“It wasn’t even the drugs or the normal sideshow of people that she hangs out with on a daily basis,” he said.
Tommy Thomas also said he wished his daughter had died from drugs.
“There was a long time that I really thought I was going to get a call that she was gone, and it was going to be because of a drug overdose,” he told WTHR.
“And I hate to say it, but I wish it had been an overdose. I hate to know how much pain, if any, that she went through, you know, pinned underneath that car, and when that guy hit her.”