The person ICE said it was trying to detain when one of its agents struck a man with an SUV in Houston last weekend has been dead since 2017, according to an immigration advocacy group and an attorney who spoke with the deceased immigrant’s family.
ICE said that its agents were “conducting a targeted enforcement operation” to arrest Jose Mendoza-Cervantes when an agent hit and seriously injured Miguel Parra Hernández, 48, on Oct. 10.
In a previous statement, ICE said it attempted a vehicle stop and the two people in the car ran away. The officers tried to apprehend the fleeing men, and “Miguel Parra Hernandez ran in front of an ICE vehicle and was struck,” the ICE spokesperson stated.
The collision left Parra with hip, leg and ankle injuries, including a broken leg, according to his family and representatives.
Afterward, ICE issued a statement that included a headshot of the man it identified as Mendoza-Cervantes with the word “wanted” in capital white letters.
But the daughter of the man identified by ICE as Mendoza-Cervantes told an immigrant civil rights group that the photo was actually of her deceased father.
In a news conference Friday, the leader of FIEL Houston, Cesar Espinosa, said the daughter had identified the man in the photo as his father, José Hector Jimenez Mendoza, who passed away almost a decade ago while trying to enter the United States.
“She called our office sobbing because she saw her dad’s picture all over the news, all over the ICE website, saying they were looking for her dad,” Espinosa said. He added FIEL has turned over all relevant documents to Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare.
The New York Times first reported that Mendoza had died in 2017, stating that Mendoza’s daughter, Jamie Jimenez told the outlet the family was “horrified” to see their dad shown as a fugitive who was alive. She told the newspaper he used aliases, including the one used by ICE.
Parra’s attorney, Kim Bruno, provided a copy of a Mexican death certificate given to her and FIEL by the family. It lists the man’s name as J. Hector Jimenez Mendoza, his death year as 2017 and the location of death as Laredo, Texas. Several sections of the death certificate, which contains identities of parents as well as addresses and cause of death, were blacked out.
Bruno said the news that the man ICE identified as Mendoza-Cervantes is dead is “beyond mind-blowing” and the use of the dead man’s image is “jaw-dropping.”
Espinosa slammed ICE at the press conference and accused the agency of misidentifying the man with Parra.
“Either someone is not telling the truth or, all of a sudden, the two ICE agents have developed a sixth sense and are able to see dead people,” said Espinosa.
Espinosa called on ICE “to tell the truth. Come clean and turn over all body cameras.”
A senior Department of Homeland Security official told NBC News on Thursday it had bodycam video it was reviewing internally but a decision had not been made about releasing it.
At the press conference, Espinosa introduced the other man who fled with Parra, who identified himself only as “Omar.” He wouldn’t take questions but confirmed he was the person in the car with Parra before they fled on foot. The man has light-colored eyes, unlike the man in the picture that ICE issued.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to questions regarding Jimenez Mendoza and about Espinosa’s comments.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare is investigating ICE on a possible aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge as a result of Parra’s injury.
Teare, a Democrat, said it is “pretty obvious” from videos that ICE intentionally struck and ran over Parra. ICE has stated that “allegations that ICE struck Miguel Parra-Hernandez intentionally are RECKLESS and FALSE.”
Teare said he could take the case to a grand jury as soon as next week.
A senior DHS official told NBC News on Thursday that the officer driving the vehicle that hit Parra has been placed on administrative leave.
Bruno also is representing Luis Delfín Martínez, one of two men who were handcuffed in the back of the ICE vehicle when it struck Parra.
The two men had been arrested in a separate operation, Bruno and Espinosa said previously. Delfín, Parra and the second man in the vehicle, José Presa Cañada, are undocumented, Espinosa said.
Bruno said on Friday that Delfín suffered soft-tissue injuries from being tossed around the back of the ICE vehicle while he was handcuffed and not buckled in as it pursued Parra. Delfín is being detained in the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas.
ICE did not immediately respond to a question about the allegations regarding Delfín.
Teare told NBC News on Thursday that his office had interviewed Presa at a south Texas detention center close to the border, and obtained “a significant amount of relevant details from him.”
ICE had told Teare’s office that it was planning to deport Presa, Teare said.