Three-Time Deported Immigrant Kills 6-Year-Old, Roiling NC House Race
A Mexican national deported three times illegally re-entered the U.S., blew through a stop sign and killed six-year-old Calli Toler in rural North Carolina, igniting a House race debate over immigration enforcement.
A Mexican national deported three times illegally re-entered the United States, blew through a stop sign and killed six-year-old Calli Toler in rural North Carolina. Federal officials call the tragedy completely preventable. The crash has thrust immigration enforcement into a competitive House race 2,000 miles from the border.
Calli Elizabeth Toler died at the scene when Jaime Santiago Corona's 2023 Dodge Ram pickup struck her family's SUV at the intersection of Warren Jones Road and County Home Road in Pitt County. Her mother Kelli Toler, 35, and four-year-old brother Colton sustained serious injuries. The family was en route to get lunch before heading to a swimming pool when the collision occurred.
Corona, 33, had been deported from the United States in 2019, 2023 and 2024 before illegally re-entering at an unknown date and location, according to Department of Homeland Security records. He had convictions for driving under the influence of liquor and obstructing police. At the time of the crash, he was driving without a valid license.
DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis called Corona "a monster" and stated the tragedy was 100 percent preventable.
"This monster caused a car crash that killed a 6-year-old girl, and injured a mother and a 4-year-old," Bis said in a July 8 statement. "He had previously been deported THREE times, and has a criminal history for driving under the influence of liquor. This tragedy was 100% preventable."
ICE lodged an immigration detainer July 6 through 8 requesting North Carolina authorities not release Corona. He faces charges of misdemeanor death by vehicle, failure to stop for a stop sign, careless and reckless driving, and driving while license revoked. He remains in the Pitt County Detention Center on a $100,000 secured bond, with court documents designating him a flight risk. The Pitt County Sheriff's Office confirmed they plan to cooperate with ICE.
The crash occurred approximately one mile from North Carolina's 1st Congressional District line. That proximity has transformed a typically economics-focused House race into a referendum on immigration enforcement. Republican challenger Laurie Buckhout, a retired Army colonel and Iraq War veteran, has used the case to attack Democratic incumbent Rep. Don Davis.
"It has continued because, under the Biden administration with Don Davis' oversight, you allowed so many illegals in the country and just a little bit ago, an illegal alien blew through a stop sign and killed a little girl," Buckhout told Fox News Digital on July 13. "President Donald Trump's 'America First' agenda and DHS' mass deportation actions have gone a long way to stem the tide of cases like the Tolers'."
Davis voted for the Laken Riley Act in January 2025 and for a DHS funding bill including ICE funding in January 2026. On July 9, he tweeted: "I voted for the Laken Riley Act because our immigration laws must be enforced." His campaign spokesperson said Davis "will continue to do what he does best: fight for and be a voice for the people of Eastern North Carolina."
The tragedy in NC-1, one of America's poorest districts with a 17.6 percent poverty rate, illustrates how border policy failures impact communities far from the Mexican border. In February, ICE lodged detainers against two criminal illegal aliens from Mexico charged in a violent Pitt County home invasion involving sexual assault and kidnapping. North Carolina passed a 2024 law mandating cooperation with ICE detainers, and in 2025, Republican lawmakers overrode the governor's veto of the Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act, which expanded the list of crimes triggering immigration checks.
"You don't have sovereignty without a border," Buckhout said. "I mean, that's just the bottom line."
Calli's funeral service was held July 10 at Juniper Chapel FWB Church in Vanceboro. She was a dancer at Down East Dance in New Bern. A GoFundMe fundraiser for the family has raised more than $42,000 of a $50,000 goal.
DHS records show Corona illegally entered the United States three times before his deportations and re-entered for a fourth time after his 2024 removal. The agency requested Corona not be released from jail and allowed on roads again.
A community that lost a child now watches whether its elected officials will keep broken borders from claiming another family.