Illegal immigrant who fled US after 2016 death of Sarah Root is extradited ‘to face justice once and for all’

A Honduran man accused of killing an Iowa woman in 2016 while driving drunk in Nebraska was extradited to the United States on Friday after he fled the United States following his release on bond. 

Eswin Mejia was arrested Thursday in Honduras and put on a plane to the U.S. to face justice for the death of 21-year-old Sarah Root, the State Department said. 

“Nine years ago, Sarah was tragically killed by an illegal immigrant who later fled our county,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X. “Today, the Trump Administration is announcing the extradition of Sarah’s killer from Honduras to the United States to face justice once and for all.”

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Mejia, who was living in the U.S. illegally, was allegedly driving drunk when he crashed into Root’s vehicle at a stoplight in Omaha, Neb., in January 2016. She later died at a hospital. 

Mejia was detained and charged, but fled the country after being released on bond. He was later added to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “Most Wanted” list.

At the time of his arrest, ICE said that Mejia was not an “enforcement priority.”

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa., praised news of the arrest. 

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“The Trump administration never forgot Sarah Root’s story,” she wrote on social media. Together, we fought for justice to hold the illegal immigrant who took her life accountable. Iowans and every American know that this administration will always put our citizens first.”

Border agents first encountered Mejia in May 2013 when he arrived in Nogales, Ariz., and was designated as an unaccompanied child, according to an ICE response letter to Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb, at the time. “As required by law,” Mejia was transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which then shipped him to Omaha in 2014 to live with his brother. 

After his January 2016 arrest for motor vehicle homicide, ICE officials “encountered Mr. Mejia just once,” but they did not file a detainer.

In February, Honduras reached an agreement with the United States to continue a century-old extradition treaty. The agreement came amid tension between both governments after officials expressed concerns over a meeting between Honduran officials and Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, who faces drug trafficking charges in the U.S.