Harris County DA Charges ICE Agent With Aggravated Assault After Vehicle Strike

Federal law enforcement operations in Houston face renewed scrutiny after local prosecutors charged an immigration officer with assault.

A Harris County grand jury indicted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Mario Alberto Morales on Friday.

The charge is a felony count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, defined here as the vehicle Morales was driving.

District Attorney Sean Teare announced the case at a news conference at the Harris County criminal courthouse.

Teare stated that his office reviewed surveillance video from a nearby business and ICE body camera footage.

The footage shows two men exiting a white pickup truck and running through a parking lot on Oct. 10.

A black SUV pursued one of the men from behind during the chase.

According to the DA, the agent’s vehicle struck Miguel Parra-Hernandez, 48, in the legs while he was fleeing.

Parra-Hernandez was found on the ground crying in pain after the collision.

ICE stated agents were searching for Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, who had an active deportation order.

Officers believed Mendoza-Cervantes was riding in the same truck as Parra-Hernandez.

Mendoza-Cervantes’s daughter told the New York Times that her father died nearly ten years ago.