An illegal immigrant who pleaded guilty to killing a South Carolina college student in a hit-and-run will be released next year after completing his one-year sentence.
Rosali Fernandez-Cruz was admitted to the state Department of Corrections on Aug. 14, 2025, according to South Carolina Department of Corrections records.
His projected release date is March 2, 2026. Fernandez-Cruz pleaded guilty to hit-and-run resulting in death — the most serious charge against him — according to Robert Kittle, communications director for the state attorney general’s office, who spoke with Fox News Digital.
"The hit-and-run driver, Rosali Isaac Fernandez-Cruz, was in our country illegally and received just 1 year in prison for taking Nate’s precious life," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "ICE lodged a detainer to ensure as soon as this killer completes his one-year prison sentence that ICE is notified to arrest him and get him OUT of our country."
"Nathaniel was a 21-year-old college student with his whole life in front of him," she added. "This monster should never have been in our country and has had a final order of removal since 2018."
There was no plea agreement, and prosecutors informed the judge of other traffic-related charges against Fernandez-Cruz, Kittle said.
"The judge decided the sentence, which was one year," he said.
Fernandez-Cruz, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, received the light sentence for the April 2 death of Nathaniel Baker, 21, in Columbia. Baker was a junior at the University of South Carolina and a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.
Fernandez-Cruz was accused of failing to yield and striking Baker, who was riding a motorcycle. He then fled the scene, authorities said.
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Kittle noted that Baker’s family has forgiven Fernandez-Cruz and that they were consulted about the sentence before it was imposed.
"They did not want this to be politicized or highly publicized," he said. "They were in agreement with the guilty plea and sentence."
Fernandez-Cruz was wanted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before the accident, police said.
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) source told Fox News at the time that Fernandez-Cruz had been arrested by U.S. Border Patrol in Hidalgo, Texas, on Dec. 24, 2016.
Nearly two years later, on Sept. 6, 2018, an immigration judge in Charlotte, North Carolina, ordered Fernandez-Cruz to be deported to El Salvador.
After his release, Fernandez-Cruz will be taken into ICE custody to begin deportation proceedings.
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