Texas Man Run Over by ICE Has Never Met the Person Agents Were Allegedly Chasing
Richard Luscombe Guardian UK
Federal officers confront protesters at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. (photo: Eden McCall/OPB) Texas Man Run Over by ICE Has Never Met the Person Agents Were Allegedly Chasing
Richard Luscombe Guardian UK
Miguel Parra-Hernandez suffers from serious hip and leg injuries in Houston and remains in ICE custody, according to his representatives
Miguel Parra-Hernandez, 48, suffered serious injuries including a shattered ankle and hip when he was run over in Houston, Texas, on Saturday by an SUV driven by an officer chasing two men who ran from a pickup truck.
ICE, according to multiple media reports, said it was in pursuit of another man, Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, during an early-morning operation and attempted a vehicle stop before the occupants ran away. It said Parra-Hernandez was not its target – but he ran in front of the ICE vehicle and was struck.
Video of the incident aired by ABC News affiliate KTRK, however, shows a dark-colored, unmarked SUV following Parra-Hernandez and veering towards him as he ran across empty spaces in the shopping center parking lot in Harris county, whose seat is Houston.
Parra-Hernandez’s attorney, Kim Bruno, and Cesar Espinosa, executive director of the immigrant advocacy group FIEL Houston, told reporters at a news conference on Monday that Parra-Hernandez remained in ICE custody and faced more surgery as well as many weeks of recovery.
Espinosa said Parra-Hernandez was hit “in a violent and brutal fashion”. Bruno said he told her that he fled because he did not know who was in the dark-colored vehicle. Neither he nor the other person in the car, whom he had picked up for work, knew Mendoza-Cervantes, she said.
The ICE vehicle, she added, was not using a siren or displaying flashing lights.
Earlier in October, ICE adopted new rules for traffic stops, including ensuring that vehicles are equipped with lights and sirens to let the public know they are law enforcement vehicles, although it did not mandate their use.
The guidelines, in a memo written by Marcos Charles, executive associate director of ICE, and obtained by the Associated Press, state that ICE officers are no longer permitted to chase vehicles that refuse to stop. The memo came after a series of violent and fatal confrontations involving federal immigration officers over the summer.
Espinosa said he and Bruno were able to meet briefly with Parra-Hernandez at the hospital on Monday morning. But their visit ended after about 15 minutes when ICE agents entered the room and began recording their conversation, and they were made to leave.
“To add insult to injury, Mr Miguel is in the custody of the ICE agents who ran him down,” Espinosa said, as reported by NBC News.
“This is so disheartening and so angering that Miguel has to face the people that brutally attacked them every single day, 24 hours a day.”
The Guardian has contacted ICE for comment.
Espinosa said Parra-Hernandez sustained hip and leg injuries, including a shattered ankle. Doctors have said he cannot put weight on his leg for at least six weeks, and Parra must wait for swelling to recede before reconstructive surgery can take place, Espinosa said.
Parra was struck at about 7.30am on Saturday. Witnesses said he remained on the ground for at least seven minutes after he was struck.
Bruno said Parra-Hernandez told her that the other person in the car was not Mendoza-Cervantes, who ICE has identified as an illegal immigrant with multiple previous arrests and a judicially issued final order of removal from the US.
She said Parra-Hernandez has lived in the US for 34 years, having arrived at age 14, and has no criminal record.
Harris county district attorney Sean Teare said Monday his office was investigating the Parra-Hernandez case.
The Harris county sheriff’s office said in a statement that it was called by ICE after the crash, which occurred as the agency has been met with nationwide criticism throughout Donald Trump’s second presidency for its aggressive arrest, detention and deportation tactics.
Footage from Saturday’s case appeared to show an ICE agent entering the pickup truck Parra was in and driving it into the parking lot, before driving off in an unmarked vehicle. Maj Anthony McConnell told the Texas news outlet KTRK that ICE personnel moved the truck before his officers arrived.