A federal immigration officer charged with aggravated assault after he ran over a Mexican man with his car in Houston will turn himself in on Monday, according to his attorney.
uncertain
he → charge → attorney
Mario Alberto Morales, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, struck Miguel Parra Hernandez, a 48-year-old construction worker, with his unmarked SUV on Oct. 10, as he chased Parra Hernandez through a parking lot.
asserted
he → strike → lot
A grand jury indicted Morales on Friday on a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
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jury → indict → weapon
Morales is planning to turn himself in at a courthouse sometime on Monday, David Lindenmuth, his attorney, told The Associated Press.
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Lindenmuth → plan → Press
Lindenmuth previously told the AP that the incident was “clearly just an accident” and that local officials had “invented a crime out of thin air.”
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officials → tell → air
Parra Hernandez broke his leg and is recovering at a rehabilitation facility while in federal custody, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare told reporters on Friday.
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Teare → break → Friday
ICE has said Parra Hernandez ran in front of Morales’ car.
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Hernandez → say → car
Previously released surveillance camera video shows Morales’ vehicle drive over a median and strike Parra Hernandez as he runs away.
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he → release → Hernandez
Teare played footage from Morales’ body camera on Friday that showed the agent making sharp turns with his steering wheel.
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agent → play → wheel
He then stops and exits the vehicle and turns toward Parra Hernandez, who is lying on the ground, screaming.
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who → stop → ground
“I was coming in, and I hit him with the car,” Morales can be heard saying after another ICE agent arrives.
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agent → come → car
Parra Hernandez told deputies that he fled the traffic stop when Morales started pulling on a mask, and Morales “threw the car” at him, according to a Harris County Sheriff’s Office incident report reviewed by the AP.
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Morales → tell → AP
Morales told deputies that he did not brake before he hit Parra Hernandez, but that he did not intentionally strike him, according to the report.
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he → tell → report
ICE said after the incident that the target of the operation was a man named Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, who the agency said was seen getting into a car with Parra Hernandez.
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agency → say → Hernandez
Mendoza-Cervantes’ daughter told the immigrants’ rights group FIEL that her father has been dead for nearly a decade.
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father → tell → decade
Morales is among a small handful of federal agents who have been criminally charged for wounding people during the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
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who → charge → crackdown
ICE agent Christian Castro pleaded not guilty last month to charges that he lied to the FBI after he shot and wounded a Venezuelan man as immigration agents swept Minneapolis earlier this year.
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agents → plead → Minneapolis
Many other ICE shootings, including some that were fatal, have not ended in charges for the agents involved.
Morales, 34, has served as an ICE agent for a little over a year, according to Lindenmuth.
Teare said on Friday that authorities have a “significant amount of information” on Morales, and that, in his experience, law enforcement agencies would not hire someone with his background.
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agencies → include → background
He did not elaborate.
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He → elaborate → ?
Morales was charged with a misdemeanor in 2013 for stealing four DVDs, according to Harris County Court records.
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Morales → charge → records
Those charges were dismissed after he paid a $270 fine and struck a plea deal.
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he → dismiss → deal
Morales unsuccessfully ran to represent Texas’ 34th congressional district in this year’s election cycle under the name “Bam Morales,” which Lindenmuth confirmed.
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Lindenmuth → run → which
Morales served in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and later as a corrections officer and law enforcement officer, he wrote in a Ballotpedia candidate survey.
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he → serve → survey
He wrote that his top priorities were veterans’ rights, economic issues and service guided by the Christian principles of “compassion, integrity, service, and accountability.”
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priorities → write → compassion
He listed illegal immigration as one of the country’s greatest challenges.
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He → list → challenges
Morales also wrote in the survey that he was endorsed by an organization called “Make America Godlier Again.”
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America → write → organization
Morales appeared at a 2024 Christian conference held by televangelist Johnson Suleman.
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Morales → appear → Suleman
In video of the conference, Morales appears to act as a Spanish translator as Suleman serves free food and “extends his touch of love to migrants.”
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Suleman → appear → migrants
“I want to pray for the immigrants,” Suleman said, as Morales translated those words into Spanish.
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Morales → want → Spanish
“I bless you.
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I → bless → you
May the lord grant your request and open your doors.”
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lord → grant → doors
Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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that → place → issues
The Aporia
