Illegal immigrant truck driver charged in death of trooper who moved home to care for mom with cancer

An illegal immigrant truck driver who authorities said remained in the U.S. despite being ordered to leave has been charged in the death of a Pennsylvania State Police trooper who had recently moved home to help care for his mother during her cancer treatment.

The crash is the latest in a series of fatal wrecks involving noncitizen commercial truck drivers that have prompted the Trump administration to tighten commercial driver’s license rules.

Michael E. Pahira Jr., 44, was conducting a commercial vehicle inspection along Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County on Wednesday morning when another semi-truck left the roadway, struck his marked patrol vehicle and the truck he was inspecting before hitting the trooper, according to Pennsylvania State Police. Both semi-truck caught fire after the crash. Pahira later died at a local hospital.

The driver, identified as 33-year-old Michael Bon, a Haitian national living in Brockton, Massachusetts, was charged with homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, reckless driving and six additional lesser charges. He is being held at Schuylkill County Prison on $700,000 bail. His next court date is scheduled for July 15.

The Department of Homeland Security has lodged an immigration detainer against him.

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Bon entered the United States through Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in July 2024 under the Biden administration’s humanitarian parole program. He later applied for Temporary Protected Status, but the application was denied. DHS terminated his parole in June 2025 and ordered him to leave the country, but he remained in the United States.

While living in Massachusetts, Bon obtained a non-domiciled commercial driver’s license in March 2025. The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles said he first qualified for the license in 2025 while he was authorized to work under federal law. It was renewed in February 2026 before the Trump administration directed states to stop issuing or renewing non-domiciled CDLs for drivers who no longer met federal eligibility requirements.

Pahira’s death comes as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has made tightening commercial driver licensing rules a top priority following multiple fatal crashes involving non-domiciled CDL holders over the past two years.

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Last year, Duffy launched a nationwide audit of states issuing non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses after a series of deadly crashes, including crashes in Wyoming, Florida and California. During his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump said at least 17 fatal crashes in 2025 that killed 30 people involved immigrants living in the country illegally driving commercial vehicles with CDLs.

The Department of Transportation has also threatened to withhold federal funding from states found to be issuing licenses to drivers who are ineligible under federal law. In April, the Transportation Department withheld more than $73 million in federal funding from New York, saying the state failed to revoke commercial driver’s licenses issued to drivers who were no longer eligible. Duffy said the move was intended to hold states accountable for ensuring only qualified and properly vetted drivers were allowed behind the wheel of commercial trucks.

“Secretary Duffy is laser-focused on restoring integrity to America’s trucking industry by ensuring truck drivers on our roadways are qualified and vetted,” a spokesperson for the Transportation Department previously told Fox News Digital. “The Department is going after every link in the chain to root out bad actors, fraudsters and chameleon carriers who put American families at risk.”

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Pahira became a trooper for the Pennsylvania State Police in 2007.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro remembered Pahira as “the very best of us,” saying the veteran trooper had recently moved back home to help care for his mother as she underwent cancer treatments.

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“I spent time with Mike’s parents, Patti and Mike, his sister, Jen, and some of his friends and fellow troopers,” Shapiro said during a press conference. “They told me about Mike — about how great a man he was, about his high school wrestling record, his love of cooking, and his commitment to caring for his mother as she battles cancer. Just in the last few days, he helped her shave her head as she is going through her treatments.”