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ICE Seizes DWI Guatemalan Driver From Dumont Charged With Hitting Ridgefield Pedestrians

A Guatemalan national living in Dumont who authorities said was drunk when he hit two pedestrians with his sedan at a busy Ridgefield intersection  – seriously injuring one of them – was seized by ICE, records show.

Esvin Duarte-Simon

Esvin Duarte-Simon

Photo Credit: ICE.gov / INSET: BCJ

Responding officers seized Esvin Duarte-Simon, 33, at the scene of the crash at Bergen Boulevard and Edgewater Avenue shortly before 11 a.m. last Friday, July 14, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.

Duarte-Simon, who lives on East Madison Avenue and works as a laborer, had struck the two pedestrians with his 2013 Subaru Impreza, the prosecutor said.

One was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center in serious condition, the other to Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck with lesser injuries, he said.

Duarte-Simon, who wasn’t injured, didn’t have registration or insurance, Musella said.

He was charged with assault by auto while intoxicated, issued several summons for offenses including DWI and reckless driving and sent to the Bergen County Jail.

Federal immigration agents have since seized Duarte-Simon from the lockup so he could be brought before a federal judge at an immigration status hearing in Newark.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seek such action whenever immigrants suspected of living illegally in the United States are jailed.

Federal judges then determine whether the defendant should be deported immediately, sent back to complete the local criminal justice process before deportation or is considered to be living here legally.

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