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A sprawling, 25-county congressional district more than 2,000 miles from the Mexican border was thrust into the national immigration spotlight this month after a 6-year-old girl was killed in a crash allegedly caused by a three-time deported illegal immigrant with a history of driving while intoxicated.
The economy usually dominates politics in North Carolina’s 1st congressional district, which consistently ranks among the nation’s poorest districts by poverty rate. But, that changed after six-year-old Calli Toler was pronounced dead after a wreck allegedly caused when Mexican national Jaime Santiago Corona ran a stop sign west of Vanceboro last week – just a mile from the district line.
The illegal immigration crisis has been “hitting home … in North Carolina, when you saw fentanyl dealers being caught, you saw terrorists being caught,” Laurie Buckhout of Edenton, a retired Iraq War battalion commander and the Republican candidate seeking a rematch against incumbent Democratic Rep. Don Davis of Snow Hill, in what is now a slightly Republican-leaning; formerly Democrat-leaning swing district.
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“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 said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.
Davis, who is also a retired military officer, said in a statement that he supported the Laken Riley Act, adding federal immigration laws must be enforced to ensure “safe communities” for Carolinians. He said Corona was driving on a revoked license when he crashed into the Tolers on Warren Jones Road near US-17.
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Buckhout said Toler’s mother and sister survived after being treated at a Greenville hospital, adding that despite the Trump administration trying to crack down on illegal immigration, the repercussions of prior years’ leniency “continues to happen,” she said.
Corona was deported in 2019, 2023 and 2024 and re-entered illegally a fourth time before the Vanceboro crash, according to DHS. He also has a criminal record that includes DUI charges, DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said.
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Pitt County authorities, who have custody of Corona, indicated they plan to cooperate with ICE.
Buckhout said 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’, but that if elected she would push for higher pay for agents, and improved technology at the Mexican border like funding for sensors and other tools the feds can use to secure the homeland.
“We need to support them more… More technology, more access roads going down to the border so that they can access the border safely. We need to let them safely do their jobs with every technology available,” Buckhout said.
“The safety of the American people depends upon it. You don’t have sovereignty without a border. I mean, that’s just the bottom line.”
Buckhout also pointed to two other illegal immigrants’ cases in the district – the arrest of Jose Valdez-Masias on homicide charges near Warrenton and Josue Cano-Landero on child fondling and strongarm rape charges in the Inner Banks.
She also returned to the importance of reviving the economy in her area, noting that jobs are as important as national security for the people of NC-1.
“We need to protect our food sources, protect our farmers, protect our fishermen. And once again, build up the economy from the ground up because the Democrats have been ignoring it for so long,” she said – as inland NC-1 is historically significant in the tobacco and peanut industries while the coastal areas are home to key fishing areas.
A spokesperson for Davis’ campaign countered that the Democrat’s record “speaks for itself” in his expected-to-be-tight race against Buckhout.
“Laurie Buckhout seems to be increasingly bothered by the resources Congressman Davis continues to deliver for ENC, and was most recently perturbed by the fact that he is fighting for a local hospital to be reopened in Martin County,” the spokesperson said.
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“Congressman Davis will continue to do what he does best: fight for and be a voice for the people of Eastern North Carolina.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Biden for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
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