By Kenneth Schrupp | The Center Square
(Worthy News) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s parole board has granted early release to an illegal immigrant convicted of killing two Americans.
Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiano was convicted of killing two Southern California teens while he was drunk, high and speeding over 100 miles per hour. He is set to be released three years into his 10-year sentence.
Federal officials have since placed a detainer on the convict to prevent his release back into the public. They have said they are prosecuting Ortega-Anguiano with charges that could send him to federal prison for up to 20 years.
Fox News immigration correspondent Bill Melugin reported on the pending release of Ortega-Anguiano, who was convicted in 2022 for gross vehicular manslaughter for killing two U.S. citizens in Seal Beach: the American 19-year-olds, Anya Varfolomeev and Nikolay Osokin, who were dating, burned to death after Ortega-Anguinano crashed into them.
Ortega-Anguinano had a lengthy rap sheet, including multiple felony convictions, time in state prison and “multiple convictions for driving without a license.”
On Easter Sunday, the California Department of Corrections notified the teens’ parents that Ortega-Anguiano would be released in July, just three and a half years into his 10-year sentence.
“Twice deported illegal alien from Mexico, Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiano, is serving time after being convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, which resulted in the deaths of an American couple. His previous criminal convictions include burglary in 2005, vehicle theft in 2007, and battery on a spouse with kidnapping in 2014,” announced the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “After serving just three years of a 10-year sentence, [ICE] has placed a detainer with the California Department of Corrections upon his release.”
However, because California often does not comply with ICE detainers, and in many cases, the state’s sanctuary laws prevent ICE from being notified of the imminent release of illegal immigrant convicts, the teens’ families fear Ortega-Anguiano may still end up back in the United States.
“They hope the CA Dept. of Corrections will honor the detainer request and transfer him to their custody upon his release, which they often do,” wrote Melugin, who spoke to the teens’ families. “But the families fear, even if he is deported, he will just re-enter the US as a gotaway, as he’s done twice before.”
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli has since announced he is prosecuting Ortega-Anguiano under federal felony immigration charges.
“My office has filed a felony immigration charge against this defendant. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted for 8 USC 1326,” said Essayli. “If the State of California will not seek the full measure of justice against this individual, the [U.S. Department of Justice] will.”
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
A Christian pastor detained in Nicaragua since July 2025 has been released from prison but placed under house arrest along with five other Christian believers, Worthy News established on Thursday.
An injured Christian pastor in eastern India says recalling Bible verses gave him strength to survive hours of brutal abuse by a Hindu mob that accused him of converting Hindus to Christianity.
U.S. forces carried out five sets of precision strikes against Islamic State targets across Syria between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2, the U.S. military’s U.S. Central Command announced Wednesday.
U.S. forces carried out five sets of precision strikes against Islamic State targets across Syria between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2, the U.S. military’s U.S. Central Command announced Wednesday.
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff announced on Feb. 5 that Ukraine and Russia have agreed to exchange 314 prisoners, marking the first such swap in five months and the most tangible outcome yet from U.S.-brokered talks held in Abu Dhabi. The exchange followed multiple days of trilateral negotiations involving delegations from Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow.
The Supreme Court of the United States on Wednesday declined to take up a legal challenge to California’s newly drawn congressional map, allowing the state to proceed with district lines that effectively eliminate five Republican-held U.S. House seats.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that Iran has entered negotiations with the United States because it fears potential military action, as both sides prepare for high-stakes talks expected to take place in Oman. Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Trump said Tehran “doesn’t want us to hit them,” adding that a U.S. naval fleet is in the region as pressure increases.