A Harris County grand jury has indicted an ICE officer in Houston on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to District Attorney Sean Teare, who announced the indictment on Friday. The officer, Mario Alberto Morales, is accused of striking immigrant Miguel Parra-Hernandez with his SUV during a pursuit on Oct. 10.
If convicted, Morales faces two to 20 years in prison, according to Teare, as reported by CBS News US. Teare said Parra-Hernandez, a 48-year-old Mexican national, has no criminal record.
Teare said surveillance video shows the SUV crossing a median and pursuing Parra-Hernandez as he ran away, according to Al Jazeera. Body-camera footage released Friday shows Parra-Hernandez groaning on the ground after being hit, and Morales can be heard acknowledging that he hit him with the car, Al Jazeera reports.
Al Jazeera reports that Parra-Hernandez suffered multiple fractures to his right leg and an ankle injury that required surgery. Teare said the SUV ran over both of Parra-Hernandez’s legs.
The two sides dispute how the incident happened. ICE told CBS News that Parra-Hernandez ran in front of the ICE vehicle and called allegations of intentional strikes "reckless and false." Teare said Morales "aggressively steered his vehicle into Parra-Hernandez," and Al Jazeera reports that Teare says the video contradicts ICE’s account.
The parties also disagree about whether Parra-Hernandez knew Jose Mendoza-Cervantes. ICE said agents were pursuing Mendoza-Cervantes and believed he was travelling with Parra-Hernandez. Parra-Hernandez’s family has disputed that the two men knew each other, according to Al Jazeera.
Axios reports that this may be the first time an ICE agent has been indicted in Texas, a rare case of a federal immigration officer facing state charges. Al Jazeera reports that criminal charges against federal immigration officers have been rare during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, although several encounters have prompted investigations. The Axios item is only a headline and short excerpt, so its details are limited.
Al Jazeera also reports that the Harris County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo on July 7, in which ICE officer Gregory Feathers has been accused of firing at a vehicle. Federal authorities say he acted in self-defence.
No response from Morales or his attorney is reported. CBS News says prosecutors have been in contact with his attorney. CBS News says Morales’s custody was expected relatively soon, possibly not on Friday, though sources do not confirm the timing.
Al Jazeera reports that investigators had not been granted access to the Jeep as of Oct. 23, and federal authorities’ reasons are not given. Parra-Hernandez’s account is not independently confirmed beyond Teare’s description of the footage and a 911 recording.
Mendoza-Cervantes’s death is also disputed in the reporting. Al Jazeera reports that his daughter told The New York Times he died in 2017, while Teare says he has apparently been dead for nine years. ICE has not addressed this in the sources.
Morales is expected to be taken into custody relatively soon, according to Teare. The District Attorney’s Office continues its investigation of the Salgado Araujo shooting.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.