Here’s something ICE pretends has happened:
ICE alleged in a statement that “Parra-Hernandez ran in front of an ICE vehicle and was struck.”
ABC13 reached out to an ICE spokesperson, who said agents were attempting to arrest Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, who was their intended target.
ICE alleges Mendoza-Cervantes entered the United States illegally from Mexico five times and had a final order of removal issued by a judge. The agency also alleges Parra-Hernandez is in the country illegally.
Now, if you’re an absolute prick (or an ICE officer, but I repeat myself), you may think this lie is technically correct. After all, Miguel Parra-Hernandez was struck by the front of an ICE vehicle while running through a parking lot. So, he was running in front of an ICE vehicle when things happened that ICE attributes to nobody (“was struck”).
But the verbal tense means everything here. If all you saw or heard was the ICE statement, you would assume the man carelessly crossed a street or inadvertently stepped out into the path of an already-moving ICE vehicle.
But the proper tense here is “running” and he wasn’t initially running “in front” of an ICE vehicle. The ICE vehicle (and its unnamed driver) had to cross a street and cut through a parking lot to… um… “was struck” Parra-Hernandez.
The rest of the statement is the usual ICE bullshit meant to fool idiots into believing whatever happens to migrants is their own fault, as though being in the country illegally should be met with something that looks a lot like attempted vehicular manslaughter. That the person ICE officers ran over wasn’t even the (purported) target of this arrest attempt makes this statement even stupider than it already is.
If you choose to believe ICE rather than me, feel free to watch the recording yourself. And then smack yourself around a bit for being exactly the rube this administration assumes everyone — even its voting base — to be.
What you’ll see here is Parra-Hernandez exiting a truck stopped on the street and running through a parking lot. Shortly thereafter, you’ll see the ICE vehicle accelerate from across the street and aim the accelerating vehicle directly at the running person as it enters the parking lot. While you won’t actually see the impact (due to another vehicle in the lot that seems to be part of the ICE posse), the end result was an ICE officer running over a fleeing person.
And how it happens looks very deliberate. Even if you give ICE a benefit of doubt it certainly hasn’t earned, the best case scenario is that the driver thought he could safely do some sort of pedestrian PIT maneuver or realized far too late that they wouldn’t be able to slow down in time.
But don’t bounce out the video quite yet. There’s more! An ICE officer enters the abandoned truck and parks it in the parking lot in a spot where it could easily be believed that a fleeing person would have “inadvertently” crossed paths with an ICE pursuit vehicle.
While some might speculate that ICE needed to remove the abandoned vehicle from the nearby street for public safety or whatever, the fact that it was conspicuously parked where it could shore up ICE’s narrative undercuts any assumptions of innocence on ICE’s part.
Furthermore, the vehicle was now part of an active crime scene, which meant ICE should never have moved it at all. Running someone over with a car is a crime, even if it’s accidental. An investigation needed to happen, but ICE compromised the crime scene when it absolutely didn’t need to, even if its intentions (allow traffic to flow) were pure. There were plenty of ICE officers on the scene that could have directed traffic until the locals showed up.
Given all of that, it’s 100% safe to assume the only reason the vehicle was moved was to put the truck in the path of the ICE vehicle after the fact, thus making its “ran out in front of our vehicle” narrative a bit more believable.
While there is now an independent investigation underway, it’s unlikely ICE will cooperate in any way. And it’s probably only a matter of time before the feds step in and sweep this under a rug that cannot possibly have any more room for additional cover-ups. At least the local prosecutor and sheriff’s office seem interested in digging into this, rather than just run interference for Trump’s anti-migrant efforts.
On Saturday, Harris County Attorney Abbie Kamin issued a statement regarding the incident, stating in part:
“Time is of the essence in getting the facts, and the public deserves clear, accurate answers.
ICE must cooperate fully with the local investigation. My office supports Sheriff Ed Gonzalez and District Attorney Sean Teare in their ongoing independent investigation, and the Harris County Attorney’s Office stands ready to assist and support these critical efforts. We will continue to monitor developments closely as the facts become clear.
Let’s raise a glass to the undertrained, overly aggressive officers of ICE. They can’t get away with much because they’re too stupid and aggro to realize there are cameras everywhere these days. And even if they can’t be bothered to wear/activate the mandated body cams ICE has been dragging its feet about since late last year, someone or something else is bound to catch them in the act. But until we get a few convictions nailed down, the entire administration will remain the embodiment of Trump’s “I could shoot someone on Fifth Ave. and get away with it” (lightly paraphrased, you MAGA pedants) boast.