ICE agent strikes man with vehicle during pursuit in Texas, officials say
The victim, Miguel Parra-Hernandez, was hospitalized with a broken leg after being hit by an ICE vehicle during an attempted arrest.
Quick Look
- An ICE agent struck Miguel Parra-Hernandez with a vehicle in Harris County, Texas, while attempting to arrest Jose Mendoza-Cervantes.
- Parra-Hernandez was hospitalized with a broken leg; the suspect remains at large.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The incident occurs amid heightened scrutiny of ICE's enforcement tactics during the second Trump administration. Recent reports indicate over 30 deaths in 2026 involving immigration officials.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent driving a vehicle struck a man on Saturday while trying to pursue him and someone else in the Houston area, according to authorities.
The federal agency had been trying to pull over and arrest Jose Mendoza-Cervantes in north-west Harris county, Texas, when he and the victim, Miguel Parra-Hernandez, exited the vehicle, officials said.
Surveillance footage showed the officer chase Parra-Hernandez and then hit him with his car. Parra-Hernandez suffered a broken leg and was taken to a hospital, the Harris county sheriff’s office said.
In a statement, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that oversees ICE said the agency had been trying to arrest Mendoza-Cervantes after a judge had issued him a final order of removal from the United States, as USA Today reported. Mendoza-Cervantes had been arrested four times for driving under the influence and arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm, the DHS statement added.
Mendoza-Cervantes remained at large as of Saturday morning.
Parra-Hernandez’s hospitalization came with ICE facing criticism throughout Donald Trump’s second presidency for the agency’s aggressive arrest, detention and deportation tactics.
More than 30 people have died in 2026 during interactions with immigration officials, the Guardian reported in late September.
On Thursday, in New York City, an ICE agent shot a man who was in his vehicle with a five-year-old child, mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement.
And on Friday morning, a 72-year-old man shot an off-duty ICE official who was “intoxicated and agitated” and was accused of attacking the man and his daughter on their property in Fresno, California.
The Harris county precinct 4 commissioner Lesley Briones alluded to such cases in a statement on Saturday, saying: “Under the Trump administration, ICE has brought chaos and destruction to communities across our country.”
Briones described herself as “horrified” after Parra-Hernandez’s case on Saturday and called for ICE to release any relevant video to the sheriff’s office.
DHS did not immediately respond to the Guardian when asked for comment on Sunday.
Open Questions
- Will the surveillance footage be released to the public?
- What is the current status of the investigation into the ICE agent?
