ICE filed a detainer Sept. 1 for Jose Caballero Nolasco, 32, the Germantown man charged in the Aug. 30 wrong-way crash on I-270 that killed two Virginia women.

The Department of Homeland Security announced the detainer on Friday, Sept. 4, identifying Caballero Nolasco as a Salvadoran national who entered the United States illegally at an unknown date and location. The detainer asks Maryland officials not to release him from custody.

A detainer is not a judicial warrant. It requests that local law enforcement notify ICE before releasing someone and can be used to hold a person for up to 48 hours so transfer arrangements can be made, Bethesda-Chevy Chase Patch reported.

No public statement from Montgomery County officials on whether they will honor the detainer has appeared as of publication.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin called the crash avoidable in the Friday, Sept. 4 statement and said ICE lodged the detainer to prevent Caballero Nolasco's release.

Caballero Nolasco remains held at the Montgomery County Detention Center in Rockville, according to Maryland State Police. He faces two counts of gross negligent manslaughter, two counts of homicide by motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol and one count of life-threatening injury by motor vehicle.

The Aug. 30 crash

Maryland State Police said Caballero Nolasco was driving a Ford Mustang northbound in the southbound lanes of I-270 south of Democracy Boulevard around 6:46 p.m. Aug. 30 when the car struck a Toyota Camry head-on.

Musammat Shamima Begum, 46, of Burke, Virginia, and Areebah Jahin, 23, of Alexandria, Virginia, were pronounced dead at the scene. Jahin had recently graduated from George Mason University and worked as a nurse, according to The Banner's coverage. Two other passengers, including an 8-year-old girl, were hospitalized.

Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said Caballero Nolasco admitted to drinking, Fox News reported. Investigators found opened and unopened beer cans inside the Mustang, and police said he had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech.

At an Aug. 31 bond hearing, Montgomery County District Court Judge Patrick Mays denied bond, citing Caballero Nolasco's "extreme disregard for everyone traveling on the Beltway," as The Banner reported. Defense attorney Sharon T. Diamant said at that hearing her client had "never had a single brush with the law" during his time in the United States.

The Washington Post reported that Montgomery County Police dissolved its Alcohol Initiative Unit around the time of the crash, citing staffing shortages. In 2025, 20 of the county's 44 traffic deaths involved crashes where at least one driver was believed to be under the influence.

No next court date for Caballero Nolasco has been announced. The criminal investigation is ongoing.