Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry, a Democrat, said his office will seek justice on behalf of families; not because of immigration status.
Inside a courtroom Wednesday, Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry's office filed criminal charges against the twice-deported man arrested in a drunken-driving crash that killed two men, including an Indianapolis Colts player.
Outside, Curry issued a statement blasting President Donald Trump.
“We are disheartened that ghoulish and inappropriate public commentary has politicized this tragedy," said Curry, a Democrat. "Much of such commentary, including tweets by the president, fails to acknowledge that both Edwin Jackson and Jeffrey Monroe lost their lives on Sunday."
Friends and family of Jackson and Monroe have echoed similar sentiments.
On Tuesday, Trump used Twitter to say: "This is just one of many such preventable tragedies. We must get the Dems to get tough on the Border, and with illegal immigration, FAST!"
He also tweeted a message of support to Jackson's family.
Manuel Orrego-Savala, a 37-year-old Guatemalan citizen, was arrested early Sunday morning after State Police say he crashed a Ford F-150 pickup truck into a vehicle stopped on the shoulder of I-70, killing Jackson, a Colts linebacker, and Monroe, an Uber driver.
The allegations against Orrego-Savala have drawn Indianapolis into a national debate over immigration policies as Republicans and Democrats battle in Washington, D.C., over a budget deal.
At issue is both long-term funding for the U.S. government and the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed certain people who came to the U.S. illegally as minors to be protected from immediate deportation.
Trump's tweet, and statements from other Republicans, characterized Orrego-Savala's arrest as proof that stricter immigration laws are needed. Activists have responded by seeking to separate the alleged crime from the broader issue of immigration policy.
Orrego-Savala was charged with four local felonies on Wednesday: two counts of failure to remain at the scene of an accident and two counts tied to drunken driving causing death. The former charges are each punishable by up to 16 years in prison; the latter charges are punishable by up to 12 years.
He also faces a federal charge of illegal re-entry of a previously deported alien. That charge, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on Tuesday, could add 10 years in federal prison to any sentence Orrego-Savala might receive if convicted in the drunken-driving case.
Wearing orange jail garb, he appeared in Marion Superior Court on Wednesday morning for an initial hearing.
Judge Grant Hawkins read Orrego-Savala's rights. Orrego-Savala said he hired an attorney.
Prosecutors requested a DNA sample. A pretrial hearing was set for March 27.
After the hearing the defense attorney, Jorge Torres, told a gathering of reporters that the political rhetoric and media attention could make it impossible for his client to receive a fair trail.
"We have serious concerns," Torres said. The first thing posted in the media was his immigration status, he said.
"Drunk driving has nothing to do with immigration status."
Torres said it was too soon to say whether Orrego-Savala would request his trial be moved out of Marion County because of the publicity.
Torres said any future juror who lives in Marion County already has "been exposed to the negative attention brought because of his (immigration) status."
Orrego-Savala is believed to have entered the country illegally on or around July 1, 2004, according to ICE spokeswoman Nicole Alberico. He was convicted of driving under the influence in Redwood City, Calif., in 2005, Alberico said.
In October 2006, he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Francisco and deported in January 2007, according to a federal criminal complaint.
A little more than two years later, in March 2009, he was again arrested in San Francisco and deported that May.
Neither the federal complaint or local court documents shed light on when Orrego-Savala re-entered the U.S. or when or why he traveled to Indiana.
What is known is that Orrego-Savala was convicted last year in Boone County for driving without a license.
But he was arrested and charged under the name Alex Cabrera-Gonsales, one of many aliases that he has used, according to local and federal authorities. He used a similar name when State Police arrested him Sunday.
Variations on the spelling of Orrego-Savala appeared in several convictions out of California, including one for drunken driving in September 2005.
He was charged in Marion County under the name Orrego Zavala. In court, through a lawyer, he said his real name is Orrego-Savala.