Steve Cortes, founder of the League of American Workers, said that a fatal hit-and-run incident in North Carolina involving a deported illegal alien illustrates “a total failure of enforcement” and highlights the dangers associated with weak border control and repeat illegal reentry. This statement was made to the Durham Reporter.
“When a deported illegal alien is allowed to re-enter the U.S. and kill a North Carolinian, it’s not just a tragedy — it’s a total failure of enforcement,” said Cortes, President. “This death is the result of four years of open-borders and weak immigration enforcement by the Biden Administration and his Democrat allies. The Trump White House is finally making it clear that these crimes are preventable when our laws are upheld. Every time pro-open-borders politicians look the other way, Americans pay the price. Border security isn’t just policy — it’s life and death.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged an arrest detainer for Werner Orosco-Clemente, also known as Wilmer Fuentes Mejia. Mejia, a Guatemalan national, is accused of killing 61-year-old Richard Ferguson Jr. in a fatal hit-and-run in Durham on September 13, 2025. ICE confirmed that Mejia had been deported in 2020 after multiple DUI arrests and had re-entered the United States illegally before the crash. This case underscores the risks posed by repeat offenders released under local leniency policies.
According to Pew Charitable Trusts’ analysis on border and interior enforcement, inland states like North Carolina are directly affected by federal immigration policies. The report notes that coordination between local detention centers and federal agencies such as ICE ensures that immigration violations identified through criminal proceedings are properly processed, preventing the release of repeat immigration offenders into local communities.
The Center for Countering Human Trafficking’s 2024 annual report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recorded over 1,600 trafficking victims identified and 3,200 arrests linked to transnational criminal networks. The report emphasizes that both border integrity and interior enforcement are essential to preventing human exploitation, illustrating how border failures often connect to crimes occurring within U.S. states.
C-SPAN identifies Steve Cortes as the founder and president of the League of American Workers and a former Trump campaign adviser. In a Washington Journal appearance, he discussed voter and economic issues while representing the League, which is a policy organization advocating for working-class Americans in national debates on labor, immigration, and border enforcement.