Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem visited Bakersfield on Thursday as part of a nationwide campaign focused on crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.
The visit highlighted the story of 7-year-old Dalilah Coleman, who was critically injured in a 2024 crash in San Bernardino County.
Dalilah was just 5 years old when she was involved in a six-vehicle collision on Highway 395. The crash caused severe brain swelling and left her on life support.
Today, Dalilah is nonverbal, but her bright smile and charismatic spirit continue to fill the room, her family says. Her father, Marcus Coleman, remembers a time when she would run through the house laughing and screaming, full of energy.
The truck driver charged in connection with the crash is Partap Singh.
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Singh is an undocumented immigrant from India and is currently being held in ICE custody in Texas.
Dalilah’s case drew the attention of Secretary Noem, who has been traveling the country meeting with what are known as “Angel Families” families whose loved ones were killed or injured by undocumented immigrants.
The visits are part of a broader push to on immigration enforcement.
“It was shocking,” said Ileana Krause, her mother. “We went to D.C. hoping to be heard, but we weren’t expecting all the notoriety. It was unexpected.”
Marcus Coleman, who is also a truck driver, said he and his wife later made the decision to visit Singh while he was being held at the Mesa Verde Detention Facility in Bakersfield.
“It was important to us,” Coleman said. “We carried a lot of resentment.”
Krause added that holding onto anger was not something the family wanted to continue.
“He wasn’t feeling our hatred. He wasn’t feeling the resentment toward him —that was something we were feeling,” she said. “And I think it was something we wanted to let go.”
Now, nearly two years after the crash, Dalilah is a first grader continuing what her family describes as a long and difficult road to recovery.
She remains in rehabilitation and therapy, and another surgery is planned for next year.
The family is currently saving to prepare for that procedure.
Coleman also expressed concerns about trucking industry standards, saying he believes more rigorous training and broader testing requirements are needed.
“Nobody that age should be operating an 80,000-pound truck by themselves,” he said. “The training that schools provide needs to be looked at. I think the tests people are taking need to be broadened a little more. I think they are letting a lot of people slide because of the shortage of drivers out there.”
Despite the political attention surrounding their story, the family says their primary focus remains Dalilah’s healing.
Above all, they say they are praying for her continued recovery and that her story spreads peace rather than division.
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