U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Mario Alberto Morales surrendered to authorities on Monday in Houston, Texas, after being accused of intentionally running over a Mexican immigrant with his vehicle during a immigration operation that took place on October 10.
Morales, 33, appeared before a Harris County court to respond to a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, in this case, the car he was driving. The judge set bail at $30,000, lower than the $75,000 requested by the prosecution. Morales was released on bail shortly after his appearance, according to reports from Associated Press and FOX 26 Houston.
The case has sparked considerable controversy, not only due to the images depicting the moment of the incident, but also because the person that immigration agents were allegedly searching for had reportedly passed away nine years earlier, according to documents submitted by their relatives.
The events occurred around 7:20 in the morning on October 10, near Clay Road and Highway 6, in the northwest area of Houston.
According to the investigation, ICE agents were pursuing a white truck in which two men were traveling. The vehicle eventually came to a stop, and its occupants ran off in different directions.
One of them, identified as Miguel Parra Hernández, a 48-year-old Mexican construction worker, was struck by the vehicle without official insignia driven by Morales.
Parra Hernández sustained severe injuries to a leg that required surgical intervention. According to Associated Press, he remains in federal custody while recovering at a rehabilitation center.
Immigration authorities had initially stated that the man stepped into the path of the car during his attempt to escape.
However, the Harris County District Attorney's Office believes that the surveillance footage and the body camera recordings of the officers depict a different situation.
According to the researchers, Morales allegedly directed his vehicle deliberately towards Parra Hernández while he was running through a parking lot.
The publicly released images show the car crossing a dividing area before hitting the immigrant. In other footage, the victim can be seen lying on the ground, screaming in pain after the collision.
The county prosecutor, Sean Teare, stated that the gathered evidence supports the criminal charge filed against the officer.
A grand jury formally filed charges on Friday, October 30. If found guilty, Morales could face a sentence of between two and twenty years in prison.
The agent's defense claims it was an accident
David Lindenmuth, Morales' attorney, rejected the accusations and asserted that his client did not intend to run over the Mexican worker.
According to his account, the agent was trying to approach the fleeing men when he encountered another vehicle in his path and executed an evasive maneuver.
"It was an accident. It was not a crime," Lindenmuth stated in remarks collected by FOX 26 Houston.
ICE also defended the actions of its agent and rejected the conclusions of the Prosecutor's Office.
In a statement, the agency described the legal process as a political maneuver by local authorities and asserted that the allegations that Morales intentionally struck Parra Hernández were false.
The Prosecutor's Office, for its part, maintains that the audiovisual evidence justifies the charges and rejects the notion that the proceedings are politically motivated.
ICE was looking for a man who, according to his family, died in 2017
One of the most controversial elements of the case is related to the identity of the person that federal authorities intended to apprehend.
The Department of Homeland Security stated that the agents were conducting an operation aimed at a man identified as José Mendoza Cervantes, whom they attributed four previous arrests and an irregular immigration status.
However, a report by The New York Times, later reported by FOX 26 Houston and KPRC 2, revealed that the family of the man whose photo was circulated by ICE claimed he had passed away in 2017.
The daughter provided a death certificate for José Héctor Jiménez Mendoza, whose image, according to the family, matched the one used by immigration authorities.
The immigrant defense organization FIEL Houston also reported inconsistencies in the identification of the alleged target.
The deceased's daughter explained that her father used several names, including the one published by ICE. According to the investigation by The New York Times, the photographs and the criminal records reviewed also matched the identity released by federal authorities.
So far, the discrepancy between the data released by ICE and the documentation provided by the family members has not been publicly clarified.
For her part, Parra Hernández's lawyer, Kim Bruno, stated that her client does not know José Mendoza Cervantes and has never heard of him.
The defense argues that the immigrant who was run over was not the target of the immigration operation.
Civil rights lawyer demands justice
The American civil rights attorney Lee Merritt reacted on Monday to the agent's surrender and called for accountability for what occurred.
In a post on the social media platform X, Merritt recalled that Parra Hernández was not the person identified by ICE as the target of the operation and highlighted reports that the individual being sought had passed away years ago.
"No badge puts an officer above the law," wrote the lawyer.
He also stated that the enforcement of immigration laws does not constitute authorization to cause harm and affirmed that Parra Hernández and his family deserve justice.
The organization FIEL Houston and other advocates for immigrant rights have also demanded that the facts be clarified and that medical care and protection for the victim be guaranteed.
The prosecution of Morales represents an unusual case of state criminal charges against a federal agent for their actions during an immigration operation.
For now, Morales retains the presumption of innocence while the process continues and judicial authorities determine whether the incident was intentional or accidental.
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