A Texas grand jury has indicted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Mario Alberto Morales on charges of aggravated assault with a weapon after he ran over an undocumented immigrant in Houston earlier this month, authorities announced Friday.
According to Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, Morales struck Miguel Parra-Hernandez, a Mexican national in ICE custody who sustained multiple fractures and serious injuries in the incident. Parra-Hernandez remains at a rehabilitation facility recovering from the wounds.
The indictment follows an incident on October 10, when Morales was reportedly pursuing another individual but instead followed Parra-Hernandez, who was driving a Chevrolet Silverado. Surveillance footage from a nearby bakery and Morales’ body camera, shown during a news conference at the Harris County courthouse, depict Parra-Hernandez fleeing on foot from his vehicle and Morales aggressively driving an unmarked Jeep into him in a parking lot.
In audio from the body camera, Morales admits to a fellow officer, “I was coming in, and I hit him with the car.” Parra-Hernandez can be heard screaming in pain and protesting, “You ran me over. My leg.” Morales subsequently called 911, but his statements to the dispatcher contradicted the video evidence. While the video shows Morales intentionally striking the man, he told the dispatcher that Parra-Hernandez had hit his car as Morales tried to maneuver around him.
District Attorney Teare criticized Morales’ background, noting the agent was recruited through an expedited training program initiated during the August 2025 ICE recruitment surge under the previous administration’s mass deportation efforts. Teare stated he found Morales’ qualifications insufficient for law enforcement work, saying, “I’m not familiar with a single agency that would’ve hired this person.”
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzales added that during the investigation officers found two other detained immigrants in the back of Morales’ vehicle, who were reportedly handcuffed and without seat belts at the time of the pursuit. Officials said Morales should not have engaged in such a chase under those conditions.
An ICE spokesperson dismissed the indictment as a “political stunt” and denied the allegations of intentional harm, describing them as “reckless and false.” The spokesperson emphasized the professionalism of ICE officers operating to remove dangerous criminals from communities.
This case has drawn attention amid recent high-profile deaths of immigrants involving federal agents, with critics urging the Justice Department for more active investigations. However, legal experts note that local prosecutors face significant challenges due to the constitutional supremacy clause, which often shields federal officers from state-level criminal prosecution if their actions are related to federal duties.
Teare expressed hope that the prosecution will deliver justice to Parra-Hernandez and his family, while also sending a message to ICE officers about the limits of their authority. “An ICE badge does not give you free rein to injure, kill or violate the constitutional rights of anyone,” he said. “The time to stop is now.”