The worker, 48-year-old Miguel Parra Hernandez of Mexico, remains hospitalized with multiple leg fractures and needs reconstructive ankle surgery, according to FIEL, a Houston-based immigration advocacy group. At a news conference on Friday, the group said the alleged suspect's family had shared documentation proving his death.
After the episode on 10 October, ICE said in a statement that officers had observed a suspect they were targeting, identified as Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, enter a vehicle with Parra Hernandez. But on Friday, Rafael Lemaitre, spokesperson with the Harris County district attorney's office, told the Associated Press that Mendoza-Cervantes was not in that vehicle. ICE did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
"ICE is lying," said Cesar Espinosa, FIEL's executive director. "Either somebody is not telling the truth or all of a sudden these two ICE agents have developed a sixth sense and are able to see dead people."
ICE released a photo of a man it identified as Mendoza-Cervantes. But the man in the photo is actually Jose Hector Jimenez, who died years ago while being pursued by federal immigration authorities as he was trying to re-enter the US, according to FIEL. The man's daughter provided his death certificate from the Mexican government, which has been turned over to the district attorney, Espinosa told the AP. US Customs and Border Protection did not respond to a request for comment.
Criminal charges against the ICE officer who drove the vehicle are being considered by Harris County district attorney Sean Teare, who has said surveillance footage contradicts ICE's claim that Parra Hernandez stepped in front of the vehicle. The video shows a black SUV speeding over a median and driving toward a man who is running away. The video does not show the car hitting him, but it shows the SUV inches from the fleeing man before he is on the ground.
US House member Sylvia Garcia, a Democrat who represents Houston, said that ICE appears to be lying about what happened. "If ICE was pursuing a man who died years ago, it raises serious questions about how these operations are being carried out and whether agents are even verifying who they are looking for before putting people's lives at risk," Garcia said in a statement.