Law & Justice
ICE Officer Indicted for Allegedly Running Over Mexican Construction Worker in Houston
A Texas grand jury has indicted United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer Mario Alberto Morales on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for an incident that occurred on October 10. The indictment follows an investigation into a raid in Houston in which Morales is accused of deliberately striking 48‑year‑old Miguel Parra‑Hernandez, a Mexican immigrant who has lived in Harris County for more than 30 years, with an unmarked black Jeep Cherokee. Parra‑Hernandez was reportedly fleeing federal agents when the vehicle struck him in a parking lot near Clay Road and Highway 6. He sustained multiple fractures to his right leg and an ankle injury that required surgery.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said that Parra‑Hernandez had no criminal record and that surveillance video contradicts ICE’s claim that the incident was accidental. The footage shows the SUV crossing a median and pursuing Parra‑Hernandez as he ran, with the man on the ground moments later. Body‑camera footage released by authorities also shows Morales acknowledging that he struck Parra‑Hernandez with his vehicle.
Teare has accused federal authorities of not cooperating with the investigation, noting that ICE removed the Jeep before local investigators could examine it for evidence. A search warrant obtained by local media indicated that investigators had not been granted access to the vehicle as of October 23.
The case has raised questions about the raid’s intended target. ICE said agents were searching for a man named Jose Mendoza‑Cervantes, whom they believed was traveling with Parra‑Hernandez. However, Mendoza‑Cervantes’s daughter told The New York Times that her father died in 2017, and Parra‑Hernandez’s family has disputed that the two men knew each other.
The indictment comes as the Harris County District Attorney’s Office continues to investigate the fatal shooting of another Mexican, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, on July 7. ICE officer Gregory Feathers has been accused of firing at the vehicle Salgado Araujo was driving on his way to work, a claim that the surviving passengers in the vehicle dispute.}