Semitruck driver taken into ICE custody after crash that left 4 people dead

JAY COUNTY, Ind. (WPTA/Gray News) — A semitruck driver involved in a deadly crash in Indiana has been arrested on an immigration warrant, officials said.

The Jay County Sheriff’s Office said Bekzhan Beishekeev, 30, was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on Thursday morning.

Indiana State Police (ISP) said the crash happened around 4 p.m. Tuesday on S.R. 67.

Police said one semitruck driver heading eastbound slowed down for traffic. Beishekeev, driving another semitruck, came up behind the first truck and did not stop or slow down.

ISP said Beishekeev then swerved into the westbound lane, hitting an oncoming van driven by 55-year-old Donald Stipp.

Four of the six people in the van were killed, the sheriff’s office said.

The four victims were identified by the Jay County Coroner’s Office as Henry Eicher, 50; Menno Eicher, 25; Paul Eicher, 19; and Simon Girod, 23.

A GoFundMe has been created for the driver of the van who survived the crash but was seriously injured.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Beishekeev is from Kyrgyzstan. DHS said Beishekeev “illegally came to the United States using the Biden administration’s disastrous CBP One app.” He was issued a commercial driver’s license by Pennsylvania.

“It is incredibly dangerous for illegal aliens, who often don’t know our traffic laws or even English, to be operating semitrucks on America’s roads. These sanctuary governors must stop giving illegal aliens commercial driver’s licenses before another American gets killed,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

However, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s team argues that Beishekeev had legal status when he was issued the commercial driver’s license in July 2025.

A spokesperson for Shapiro told Fox News, “The individual in question had legal status in Kristi Noem’s database when the license was issued in July 2025 and still shows as eligible to receive a license as of today. Kristi Noem should focus on minding the shop in her own agency, as her incompetence and operational failures seem to be matching the scale of her moral failures as the Secretary of Homeland Security.”

DHS said Beishekeev will remain in ICE custody pending immigration proceedings.