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 Carolinas 1st congressional district, which consistently ranks among the nations 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 â 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.
“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 Tolers 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 Trumps “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 h
