ICE officer indicted on allegations he ran over undocumented Mexican immigrant appears in court

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of running over an undocumented immigrant from Mexico with a vehicle appeared in court Monday morning for a bond hearing and will be booked into jail, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

A grand jury indicted the officer Friday on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly struck the man, causing multiple leg fractures.

The officer, Mario Alberto Morales, was driving an ICE vehicle, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, near Houston on October 10 when he started to pursue a vehicle driven by Miguel Parra Hernandez, an ICE spokesperson said. Parra Hernandez, who has lived in Harris County for more than 30 years, has no criminal record and no pending deportation order, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said at a news conference Friday.

Parra Hernandez, 48, and another occupant in the vehicle with him began to flee on foot when Morales initiated the vehicle pursuit, Teare said. “What happened next shocked our entire community,” the district attorney said before playing video he said showed Morales striking Parra Hernandez with his vehicle.

ICE said it “immediately contacted EMS and provided aid” to Parra Hernandez. The agency claimed Parra Hernandez “ran in front of an ICE vehicle,” which Teare said contradicts findings of his investigation.

An ICE spokesperson called the allegations that Morales struck Parra Hernandez intentionally “RECKLESS and FALSE” in a statement to The Associated Press, adding local officials are not authorized to investigate federal officers following their duties.

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CNN has not reviewed the indictment and has reached out to the Harris County District Clerk and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to request a copy.

When contacted by CNN for comment on the indictment and the district attorney’s comments about Morales, a DHS spokesperson responded: “What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are in the United States illegally—period.”

Obtained by David Lindenmuth

“I’ve reviewed hundreds of cases, some very similar to this,” Teare said at the news conference, citing his background leading the division in the office responsible for prosecuting vehicular crimes. “The evidence that we have in this case is as clear as any I’ve ever prosecuted or investigated,” he added.

Morales’ attorney, David Lindenmuth, accused the district attorney of a “politically motivated prosecution.”

“It’s offensive that an elected DA would do anything like this, especially to a former service member. Morales is a good man. You would think he’s a monster based on what you’ve heard from the elected DA,” Lindenmuth told CNN.

The attorney said he believed the incident was an “accident” and claimed his client did not commit a crime.

Morales is a former corrections officer, pastor and military veteran who filed to run for Texas’ 34th Congressional District in 2025 and later dropped out, Lindenmuth said. He said Morales was contracted by ICE as a transportation officer.

Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle/Getty Images

The consequences of the incident have been “devastating and horrible” for Parra Hernandez, leaving him with life-threatening injuries, his attorney Kim Bruno said at a separate news conference Friday.

“He has suffered fractures, nerve damage, and has had surgery, and continues to face mobility limitations and chronic pain,” Bruno said, adding he has also suffered from anxiety and depression since the incident.

After a three-hour conversation with her client on Thursday, Bruno said, “All he wants is accountability,” and “assurance that this will not happen to anybody else. He is so sympathetic, and all he cares about are the other people, but he’s the one in the bed suffering.”

The other occupant in the car with Parra Hernandez was identified by ICE as Jose Mendoza-Cervantes , who the agency said was the target of the operation. But Teare said the man by that name has been “apparently dead for nine years” and did not identify the other man with Parra Hernandez inside the vehicle.

In a previous interview with CNN , Parra Hernandez’s brother said the other man in the truck was not Mendoza-Cervantes, the person ICE said it was trying to arrest. “We don’t know him,” said Rodolfo Parra Garcia. “The person ICE was looking for was not the person with my brother.”

Parra Hernandez was on his way to work at a nearby construction site with another man and had just gotten water from a nearby gas station when ICE officers started the enforcement action, his brother said.

“My heart broke, seeing my brother lying in a bed without being a criminal,” Parra Garcia said.

A man officials say is an undocumented immigrant has been injured after being struck by an ICE vehicle in Houston, Texas on Saturday. An ICE spokesperson said the man “ran in front” of the vehicle while attempting to flee after agents tried to conduct a vehicle stop. The man is in a stable condition in hospital with lower-body injuries, officials say.

Parra Hernandez was still in the hospital on October 25, according to a GoFundMe page created by his brother.

The incident is one of several examples involving federal agents where witness accounts and video footage have at times contradicted the federal account of what transpired, such as the fatal shooting of US citizen Renee Good in Minneapolis.

It also comes amid heightened scrutiny over vehicle stops in immigration enforcement operations after two immigrants, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston and Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, were fatally shot in July by ICE officers in separate incidents about a week apart.

Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

Morales “aggressively steered his vehicle into Parra Hernandez,” Teare said, leaving him “seriously injured and hospitalized to this day” before calling 911 to report the Mexican national had “hit his car.”

In the 911 call played by Teare during the news conference, Morales told dispatch: “We’re following this guy, trying to pull him over. He jumped out of the vehicle. I tried to get around him and he hit my car.”

In the audio of the call, Parra Hernandez can be heard crying out after the incident.

Body camera and surveillance video footage of the incident was also displayed during the news conference, showing the moment Morales allegedly struck the man with the vehicle as well as the aftermath when Parra Hernandez was on the ground.

Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle/Getty Images

ICE pursuit in Houston that broke a man’s leg targeted a suspect who died years ago, family says

Parra Hernandez’s attorney said the video footage of the incident tells “a different story than what was offered” by ICE, showing her client “running away from the vehicle and not in front of the vehicle.”

Surveillance video previously reviewed by CNN appeared to show the two men jumping out of a white pickup truck and running away as the ICE vehicle accelerated and hit Parra Hernandez as he fled on foot, but the video did not clearly show the moment of impact.

“Prosecutors synced up surveillance video from a local business with the ICE officer’s body camera footage from the incident, and just before Parra Hernandez is struck by the SUV, we see the officer make a hard left turn, steering the heavy vehicle toward the man,” said Josh Campbell, CNN Senior Correspondent and former FBI Supervisory Special Agent.

“There isn’t a law enforcement agency in this country that permits its officers to use a vehicle as a deadly weapon against someone who poses no imminent threat,” Campbell added.

Ryan Murphy/Getty Images

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Even before the strike, Campbell said there were numerous questionable tactics employed by the ICE officer, which appear to mirror other controversial immigration enforcement encounters of late.

“The officer is in an unmarked SUV, with no emergency warning lights flashing as he barrels over a traffic median. We also learned from local authorities that the whole time the ICE officer was chasing Parra Hernandez, there were two other prisoners from unrelated arrests in the back of his SUV not seat-belted in.”

In early October, CNN reported on new internal agency guidance, which said ICE officers would be allowed to conduct vehicle stops only if they have completed related training courses and must ensure vehicles used for stops are equipped with lights and sirens.

Morales was one of the “surge hires” by ICE in August 2025 and Teare’s office has not received any training records, he said during the news conference.

Without being able to go into detail regarding the officer’s past work history, Teare said: “I can unequivocally tell you that I’ve reviewed thousands of job applications and resumes for law enforcement officers from around this state, and I’m not familiar with a single agency that would have hired this person, based on his past.”

It’s not the first time Teare’s office has investigated a federal law enforcement officer for allegedly injuring or killing members of his community. The case against Morales shares similarities with the investigation into the fatal ICE shooting of Salgado Araujo in his van in July, Teare said.

Christian Monterrosa/Reuters

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“In all honesty, this was not even in the back of my mind that I would be having to investigate multiple instances of federal officers harming our community members,” Teare said.

As CNN reported, a byproduct of President Donald Trump’s nationwide surge has been a ramped-up effort to hire more immigration agents while slashing in half the amount of time they are trained before hitting the streets, Campbell said.

“Federal law enforcement officers have incredible powers,” Campbell said, “which include the powers to deny someone their liberty and even legally kill someone who might present a threat. The public expects that anyone hired to carry out the duties of a federal agent will be someone with exceptional judgment who is provided intensive training before being given a badge and gun.”

Teare stressed his office’s “utmost respect and admiration for law enforcement,” adding all local, state and federal officers should be properly vetted, trained and expected to follow standard law enforcement practices, especially as it relates to vehicle pursuits and stops.

“An ICE badge does not give you free rein to injure, kill, or violate the constitutional rights of anyone,” Teare said, adding he hopes the prosecution of Morales sends a “loud and clear message to every ICE officer who feels they have a free pass to terrorize our streets.”

At the news conference, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said investigators at his office gathered video evidence, interviewed witnesses and worked closely with prosecutors to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Investigators “developed serious concerns about the actions of the agent involved” and the office presented the findings of the investigation to the district attorney, Gonzalez said.

“Behind every investigation is a human being whose life has been affected, and we should never lose sight of that,” the sheriff added.

据哈里斯县警长办公室称，一名被控驾车撞倒一名来自墨西哥的无证移民的美国移民和海关执法局官员周一上午出庭接受保释听证，并将被收押入狱。

周五，大陪审团以使用致命武器进行严重袭击的罪名起诉了这名警官，据称他击打了一名男子，导致其腿部多处骨折。

美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）发言人称，10月10日，警官马里奥·阿尔贝托·莫拉莱斯驾驶一辆ICE警车——吉普大切诺基——在休斯顿附近开始追捕米格尔·帕拉·埃尔南德斯驾驶的车辆。哈里斯县地方检察官肖恩·蒂尔在周五的新闻发布会上表示，帕拉·埃尔南德斯在哈里斯县居住超过30年，没有犯罪记录，也没有待处理的驱逐令。

蒂尔说，48岁的帕拉·埃尔南德斯和车上另一名乘客在莫拉莱斯驾车追捕时开始弃车逃跑。“接下来发生的事情震惊了我们整个社区，”这位地方检察官在播放一段视频前说道，视频显示莫拉莱斯驾车撞向了帕拉·埃尔南德斯。

美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）称，他们“立即联系了急救人员并向帕拉·埃尔南德斯提供了援助”。该机构声称帕拉·埃尔南德斯“跑到ICE车辆前”，但蒂尔表示，这与他的调查结果相矛盾。

美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）发言人在一份发给美联社的声明中称，有关莫拉莱斯故意殴打帕拉·埃尔南德斯的指控是“鲁莽且虚假的”，并补充说，地方官员无权调查联邦官员履行职责后的行为。

一名男子被一辆ICE车辆撞倒，双腿骨折。以下是我们目前了解到的情况。

CNN尚未审阅起诉书，已联系哈里斯县地区书记官和哈里斯县地方检察官办公室索取副本。

当 CNN 联系国土安全部就起诉书和地区检察官对莫拉莱斯的评论征求意见时，国土安全部发言人回应说：“移民执法的目标取决于某人是否非法滞留在美国——仅此而已。”

由大卫·林登穆斯获得

“我审查过数百起案件，其中一些与本案非常相似，”蒂尔在新闻发布会上说道，并提及他曾领导负责起诉车辆犯罪的部门。“我们在此案中掌握的证据，与我以往起诉或调查过的任何案件一样确凿，”他补充道。

莫拉莱斯的律师大卫·林登穆斯指责地方检察官“出于政治动机提起诉讼”。

“一位民选地方检察官做出这种事令人愤慨，尤其还是针对一位退伍军人。莫拉莱斯是个好人。但根据这位民选地方检察官的言论，你会觉得他是个怪物，”林登穆斯告诉CNN。

律师表示，他认为这起事件是一起“意外”，并声称他的当事人没有犯罪。

林登穆斯说，莫拉莱斯曾是一名狱警、牧师和退伍军人，他曾报名参加2025年德克萨斯州第34选区的国会众议员竞选，但后来退出了。他还说，莫拉莱斯曾受雇于美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）担任运输官员。

Melissa Phillip/休斯顿纪事报/Getty Images

帕拉·埃尔南德斯的律师金·布鲁诺在周五的另一场新闻发布会上表示，这起事件的后果对帕拉·埃尔南德斯来说是“毁灭性的、可怕的”，导致他身受重伤，危及生命。

“他遭受了骨折、神经损伤，并接受了手术，目前仍然面临行动不便和慢性疼痛，”布鲁诺说，并补充说，自那次事件发生以来，他还患有焦虑症和抑郁症。

周四与客户进行了三个小时的谈话后，布鲁诺说：“他想要的只是责任追究，”以及“保证这种事不会再发生在其他人身上。他非常同情别人，他只关心别人，但躺在病床上受苦的却是他自己。”

与帕拉·埃尔南德斯同车的另一名乘客被美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）确认为何塞·门多萨-塞万提斯，该机构称此人是此次行动的目标。但蒂尔表示，同名男子“显然已经去世九年”，并未透露车内另一名与帕拉·埃尔南德斯同车的男子的身份。

在之前接受CNN采访时，帕拉·埃尔南德斯的兄弟表示，卡车里的另一个人并非美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）声称要逮捕的门多萨-塞万提斯。“我们不认识他，”鲁道夫·帕拉·加西亚说，“ICE要找的人不是和我哥哥在一起的那个人。”

帕拉·埃尔南德斯的兄弟说，当时帕拉·埃尔南德斯正和另一名男子一起去附近的建筑工地上班，刚从附近的加油站买了水，移民执法局官员就开始对他采取执法行动。

“看到我的兄弟躺在病床上，而他并非罪犯，我的心都碎了，”帕拉·加西亚说道。

据官方消息，一名男子周六在德克萨斯州休斯顿被美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）车辆撞伤，该男子被认定为非法移民。ICE发言人表示，该男子在执法人员试图拦截车辆时试图逃跑，并“跑到”车辆前方。官方称，该男子下半身受伤，目前在医院情况稳定。

根据他哥哥创建的 GoFundMe 页面显示，帕拉·埃尔南德斯在 10 月 25 日仍在医院接受治疗。

这起事件是联邦特工涉嫌枪击事件中的几个例子之一，在这些例子中，目击者的证词和视频录像有时与联邦政府对事件经过的描述相矛盾，例如美国公民蕾妮·古德在明尼阿波利斯被枪杀的事件。

此外，在两名移民——休斯顿的洛伦佐·萨尔加多·阿劳霍和缅因州比德福德的琼·塞巴斯蒂安·杜兰·格雷罗——于 7 月在相隔一周左右的两起事件中被美国移民及海关执法局 (ICE) 官员枪杀后，移民执法行动中的车辆拦截受到了更严格的审查。

杰西卡·里纳尔迪/《波士顿环球报》/盖蒂图片社

蒂尔说，莫拉莱斯“猛地将车撞向帕拉·埃尔南德斯”，导致他“身受重伤，至今仍在住院治疗”，之后莫拉莱斯拨打 911 报警称这名墨西哥公民“撞了他的车”。

在新闻发布会上，蒂尔播放了一段911报警电话录音，莫拉莱斯在录音中告诉调度员：“我们正在跟踪这个人，试图让他靠边停车。他跳下了车。我试图绕过他，结果他撞到了我的车。”

在通话录音中，可以听到帕拉·埃尔南德斯在事件发生后哭喊。

新闻发布会上还播放了事件的执法记录仪和监控录像，显示了莫拉莱斯涉嫌驾车撞击该男子的瞬间，以及帕拉·埃尔南德斯倒地后的画面。

Raquel Natalicchio/休斯顿纪事报/Getty Images

据家属称，休斯顿一起导致一名男子腿部骨折的移民执法局（ICE）追捕行动的目标是一名多年前已去世的嫌疑人。

帕拉·埃尔南德斯的律师表示，该事件的视频录像讲述了一个“与美国移民及海关执法局提供的说法不同的故事”，录像显示她的当事人“是从车辆旁跑开的，而不是在车辆前面”。

CNN 之前查看的监控录像显示，两名男子从一辆白色皮卡车上跳下来逃跑，而 ICE 车辆加速撞上了徒步逃跑的帕拉·埃尔南德斯，但录像没有清楚地显示撞击瞬间。

“检察官将当地一家企业的监控录像与移民执法局官员在事件中的随身摄像头录像进行同步，就在帕拉·埃尔南德斯被SUV撞到之前，我们看到这名官员猛地向左转弯，将这辆重型车辆朝帕拉·埃尔南德斯驶去，” CNN高级记者、前FBI主管特工乔什·坎贝尔说。

坎贝尔补充说：“在这个国家，没有任何执法机构允许其警员将车辆用作致命武器来对付没有构成迫在眉睫威胁的人。”

Ryan Murphy/Getty Images

选情胶着的共和党人也突然开始关注移民及海关执法局（ICE）的问题了。

坎贝尔表示，即使在罢工之前，移民执法局官员也采取了许多值得怀疑的策略，这些策略似乎与近期其他备受争议的移民执法事件如出一辙。

“这名警官驾驶着一辆没有警示标志的SUV，没有闪烁任何警示灯，就横冲直撞地冲过交通隔离带。我们还从当地警方了解到，在移民执法局警官追捕帕拉·埃尔南德斯的整个过程中，他的SUV后座上还有两名因其他案件被捕的囚犯，而且他们都没有系安全带。”

10月初，CNN报道了该机构新的内部指导方针，其中规定，只有完成相关培训课程的ICE官员才能进行车辆拦截，并且必须确保用于拦截的车辆配备警灯和警报器。

莫拉莱斯是 ICE 在 2025 年 8 月“紧急招聘”的人员之一，蒂尔在新闻发布会上表示，他的办公室没有收到任何培训记录。

由于无法详细说明该警官过去的工作经历，蒂尔表示：“我可以明确地告诉你，我审查过来自全州各地数千份执法人员的求职申请和简历，据我所知，没有哪个机构会根据他的过去雇用他。”

这并非蒂尔办公室首次调查联邦执法人员涉嫌伤害或杀害其社区成员的案件。蒂尔表示，莫拉莱斯的案件与7月份移民及海关执法局（ICE）枪杀萨尔加多·阿劳霍的案件有相似之处。

克里斯蒂安·蒙特罗萨/路透社

揭秘美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）增聘1万名遣返官员的混乱过程

“说实话，我根本没想到自己会要调查多起联邦官员伤害我们社区成员的案件，”蒂尔说。

坎贝尔说，正如 CNN 报道的那样，唐纳德·特朗普总统在全国范围内加大力度打击非法移民，其副产品是加大力度雇用更多移民执法人员，同时将他们上岗前的培训时间缩短一半。

坎贝尔说：“联邦执法人员拥有巨大的权力，包括剥夺他人自由，甚至合法击毙可能构成威胁的人。公众期望任何受雇履行联邦特工职责的人都具备卓越的判断力，并在获得徽章和枪支之前接受过严格的训练。”

蒂尔强调他的办公室“对执法部门表示最大的尊重和钦佩”，并补充说，所有地方、州和联邦官员都应该经过适当的审查和培训，并被期望遵循标准的执法程序，尤其是在车辆追逐和拦截方面。

“ICE徽章并不能让你为所欲为，伤害、杀害或侵犯任何人的宪法权利，”蒂尔说，并补充说，他希望对莫拉莱斯的起诉能向“每一个认为自己可以肆意妄为、恐吓我们街道的ICE官员发出响亮而明确的信息”。

在新闻发布会上，哈里斯县警长埃德·冈萨雷斯表示，他办公室的调查人员收集了视频证据，采访了证人，并与检察官密切合作，以确定事件的来龙去脉。

冈萨雷斯说，调查人员“对涉事特工的行为产生了严重关切”，并将调查结果提交给了地方检察官。

“每一起调查背后都有一个受到影响的人，我们永远不应该忘记这一点，”警长补充道。