Harris County Grand Jury Indicts an ICE Agent Over a Houston Chase. Federal Officials Call It a Political Stunt

A Harris County grand jury on Friday indicted a federal immigration agent who was caught on video striking a fleeing man with his SUV during an Oct. 10 chase in northwest Houston.

District Attorney Sean Teare said ICE agent Mario Alberto Morales faces a second-degree felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, the vehicle. If convicted, he could face two to 20 years in prison, The Texas Tribune reported.

ICE called the indictment "nothing more than a political stunt by Houston sanctuary politicians." The agent has not been taken into custody, and he has not had his day in court.

What the video shows

Surveillance footage from a nearby business shows two men getting out of a white pickup and running in different directions through a parking lot, with a black SUV driven by Morales following one of them. ICE body camera footage released by Teare's office shows Morales swerve toward Miguel Parra-Hernandez, 48, at the moment of impact. Parra-Hernandez can be heard crying out in pain.

"I was coming and I hit him with the car," Morales told another agent, according to the footage. On a 911 call, he told a dispatcher, "I tried to get around him, and he hit my car," and said the man was "fine" and "just complaining of pain."

Parra-Hernandez suffered a broken leg and ankle, Houston Public Media reported. His lawyer, Kim Bruno, said it is unclear whether he will walk again. He is in a rehabilitation facility in ICE custody and still faces deportation.

"The evidence that we have in this case is as clear as any that I've prosecuted or investigated," Teare said.

Questions about the arrest

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said two handcuffed people were already in the back seat of Morales' vehicle before the crash. "I know of no law enforcement agency that would deem that to be acceptable," he said.

ICE said agents were looking for a man named Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, who had a deportation order, and believed he was in the same truck. His daughter later told The New York Times that her father died nearly a decade ago, the Tribune reported.

Teare said Morales was among ICE's 2025 surge hires and that he was "not familiar with a single agency that would have hired this person based on his past." He did not give details. He also said two detained witnesses have since been deported.

The federal response

ICE says the strike was not intentional and that only federal agencies can investigate federal officers acting in their duties. Teare called that claim "patently false."

Aaron Reitz, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said his office was not consulted and sees no basis for federal charges at this time. "Federal agents should not be turned into political trophies for doing the difficult and dangerous work of enforcing federal laws," he said. Houston Public Media noted that Reitz stopped short of saying Teare lacks jurisdiction.

Indictments of federal officers are rare. Minnesota prosecutors have charged ICE officers there, and the Trump administration has argued that federal officers have a level of immunity from state prosecution.

What comes next

Teare's office is also investigating the July shooting death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by ICE agent Gregory Feathers and expects to take that case to a grand jury after Thanksgiving. ICE agents were not wearing body cameras in that case; the agency changed its policy afterward.

Several Houston-area Democrats praised the indictment, including U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia and Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia. The case lands days before Tuesday's election, where immigration enforcement is a central issue.

A fair word

Enforcing the nation's immigration laws is lawful and necessary work, and officers who do it deserve support. But a badge does not place anyone above the law, and the person on the ground was made in God's image too. A grand jury found enough to charge. Now a court, not a press release from either side, should decide what happened in that parking lot.

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