In a case drawing the White House’s attention, an undocumented immigrant and serial drunk driver is charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter after killing a mother and daughter in a drunk driving crash last month in Lakewood.

According to records obtained by the New Jersey Monitor, state prosecutors sought to detain Raul Luna-Perez while he awaited trial, but a Superior Court judge denied the request and ordered him to be released.

In the hearing last month, prosecutors said Luna-Perez had been arrested three times in four months for driving under the influence. But based on a pre-trial assessment, the judge sided with Luna-Perez’s attorney and ordered the defendant to be released to his home with an ankle monitor. He was later arrested by immigration agents.

“The governor believes that Mr. Luna-Perez, who had been arrested multiple times for DUI and domestic violence, should not have been allowed behind the wheel and should have already been deported due to his dangerous criminal activity,” said Mahen Gunaratna, Gov. Phil Murphy’s communications director.

The case comes as the White House has accused the Murphy administration’s immigration policies of shielding criminals, and the Trump administration has essentially placed blame for this tragedy on the state.

“Governor Murphy and his sanctuary policies released this serial criminal into New Jersey communities,” said Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “Now, this innocent family is shattered by their failed leadership. President Trump and Secretary Noem will continue to do everything in their power to remove these criminal illegal aliens before they destroy more lives.”

Both Murphy and state Attorney General Matt Platkin have denied the claims and said the state’s Immigrant Trust Directive is there to support the innocent, not the guilty. The directive sets guidelines for local law enforcement’s support of federal immigration agents.

“To be clear, nothing in the Immigrant Trust Directive would have prevented New Jersey law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials to deport this defendant,” Platkin said. “And we reiterate that the Immigrant Trust Directive allows for cooperation with ICE in regard to anyone charged with a violent crime or convicted of any indictable offense.”