Sarah Root’s household to attend Trump SOTU after unlawful immigrant killer sees justice

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FIRST ON FOX: The daddy and brother of a younger girl killed by an unlawful immigrant might be in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday evening watching President Donald Trump ship his State of the Union tackle, after his administration helped observe down the person who ended the girl's life.

Sarah Root, a 21-year-old Iowa native, was killed in Nebraska hours after she graduated from Bellevue College by a drunk driver whose blood alcohol content material was greater than 3 times the authorized restrict.

The person, Eswin Mejia, was in the U.S. illegally on the time of the incident in January 2016. He was arrested and launched on bond the next month and fled the nation, based on the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS).

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President Donald Trump delivers his joint tackle to Congress on the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2025. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg through Getty Pictures)

Then-candidate Donald Trump was essential of the Obama administration's dealing with of the case.

The Trump administration later tracked Mejia down in Honduras and extradited him to the U.S. in March 2025. He was sentenced to more than 20 years in jail.

Sarah Root's father and brother will attend in-person as Trump delivers his primetime tackle to Congress on Tuesday night, due to an invite from Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa.

Eswin Mejia sits in custody after being extradited from Honduras to the US to face costs within the 2016 drunken-driving dying of Iowa girl Sarah Root. (Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem)

"I feel that the message it sends is that, below President Trump, that we'll discover you. I imply, if you happen to're an unlawful legal on this state or on this nation, we are going to discover you, and you're going to get deported, or you'll be prosecuted. I feel that's the message loud and clear," Feenstra informed Fox Information Digital.

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He mentioned Sarah Root's father, Scott Root, was current on the White Home when Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into legislation final 12 months.

The anti-illegal immigrant bill additionally included an modification named after Sarah Root that may require Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain unlawful immigrants charged with severely injuring or killing somebody.

Rep. Randy Feenstra speaks throughout Iowa’s Roast and Experience on the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa, on Oct. 11, 2025. (Cody Scanlan/The Des Moines Register/Imagn)

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"Scott was on the White Home with me in the course of the signing of the invoice. And he acquired to know President Trump, so now to be there on the State of the Union — that's actually, actually an enormous deal," Feenstra mentioned.

Trump's crackdown on unlawful immigration has been a major focus of his administration to this point, after his criticism of each former President Barack Obama and former President Joe Biden's dealing with of the problem.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox Information Digital main protection of the Home of Representatives. Earlier digital bylines seen at Every day Mail and CBS Information.