ICE agents accused of deliberately hitting Mexican construction worker in Houston
An SUV driven by ICE agents struck a 48-year-old Mexican construction worker in Houston on Saturday, 10 October, according to his lawyer. Prosecutors have opened a possible aggravated assault investigation, while ICE says it was pursuing a passenger with a criminal record.
Saturday incident in Houston
Immigration agents from ICE were driving a dark SUV during an operation in Houston, Texas, when the vehicle struck a 48-year-old Mexican construction worker on Saturday, 10 October. The man was on his way to work and had just stepped out of his own vehicle when surveillance footage shows the SUV hitting him. His lawyer, Kim Bruno, said on Monday, 12 October, that the incident was not an accident and had been done intentionally. The ICE operation was part of the agency's arrest and expulsion drive against immigrants without legal status under President Donald Trump.
- ICE SUV strikes a 48-year-old Mexican construction worker in Houston, Texas, on Saturday
- The victim's lawyer says the SUV struck him intentionally
Injuries and surgery
Cesar Espinosa, director of the rights group FIEL Houston, said the man has injuries to his hip and just below the knee, along with a fractured ankle. He has already undergone an operation on the injured leg. Espinosa said several more operations are planned to rebuild the leg. The injuries are the most serious harm reported so far in the incident, and the treatment described is expected to continue for some time.
Prosecutors and the ICE account
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare has opened an investigation into a possible aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Teare told the Houston Chronicle that several investigators with decades of experience in vehicle-pedestrian collisions reviewed the footage and do not believe the incident was an accidental collision. Immigration officers told Houston Public Media that the man was running in front of an ICE vehicle when he was struck. ICE says the operation aimed to arrest a passenger in the victim's vehicle who has a criminal record.
Wider scrutiny of ICE tactics
ICE plays a central role in the Trump administration's crackdown on irregular immigration, and the agency has faced pressure over its arrests, deportations and methods that critics describe as brutal. ICE agents are heavily armed and most often masked, and their methods have drawn strong opposition across the United States. In January in Minneapolis, ICE agents shot dead two US citizens, one an unarmed woman driver and the other a man shot at the edge of a deportation raid. In a separate case in New York, ICE agents shot a man inside his car, where a five-year-old child was also present, an incident that drew protests.
