DHS agent killed US citizen in March 2025, records show - Reuters

<a href="https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMinAFBVV95cUxOaU82NGR6ZEFWdDBaUHF0X25wakNtRXNJTktaQXotUm1WYWUxeV9RYnZVQ2FnQ0RuOGw2bzNvQWE5M3Z6dGEtUEVXaEFEZU5SMElRSGpCOWw0a1pNZFFUdkxBYVlib19yakkwcEV5a0NLRFUtTGluc1JtRDJ6M0lkVG9lTmZOSU5HWWc0ekNYWFA0ZUdMWERWaTlBeWI?oc=5" target="_blank">DHS agent killed US citizen in March 2025, records show</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<font color="#6f6f6f">Reuters</font>

Newly released documents reveal that Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent during a traffic encounter on South Padre Island, Texas, in March 2025. The shooting occurred during a late-night immigration enforcement operation involving federal and local officers. According to an internal ICE report, Martinez's vehicle struck an HSI agent, prompting another agent to fire multiple shots. Martinez was transported to a hospital but later died. His passenger, also a U.S. citizen, was taken into custody. The DHS did not issue a public notice at the time, and Martinez's involvement with federal agents was only uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by American Oversight. Martinez’s mother claims she was later informed by a Texas Ranger that video evidence may contradict the official version of events. A state investigation is ongoing, and the case is expected to go before a grand jury.

A federal immigration agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen in Texas in March 2025, months before the Trump administration began its deportation surge in Minnesota that led to the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, according to records released this week. Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was killed by agents with the Department of Homeland Security, attorneys for Martinez’s family said in a statement. A DHS agent fired multiple rounds at Martinez, who allegedly hit another DHS agent with his car as the agents assisted local police in South Padre Island, Texas, with traffic control following an accident on March 15, 2025, according to records obtained by American Oversight, a nonprofit watchdog group. The agents were conducting immigration enforcement, the records show. Martinez’s shooting appears to be the first known instance of a U.S. citizen being killed during U.S. President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration. Federal agents conducting immigration enforcement shot at least five people in January alone, including Pretti and Good. Family lawyers call for investigation. Martinez was trying to comply with instructions from local law enforcement when he was shot, Charles Stam and Alex Stamm, attorneys for Martinez’s family, said in a statement. They called for a "full and fair investigation." "Ruben’s family has been pursuing transparency and accountability for nearly a year now and will continue to do so for as long as it takes," Stam and Stamm said. The mounting death toll in Trump’s intensifying immigration push has increased scrutiny on the crackdown, driving a backlash among lawmakers and the public. The Trump administration is dramatically ramping up immigration enforcement with $170 billion budgeted for immigration agencies through September 2029, a historic sum. Martinez, who was identified as a U.S. citizen in the redacted records, was taken to a hospital in nearby Brownsville, Texas, where he was later pronounced dead. The agent who was hit with a car went to the hospital for a knee injury and was later released, according to the report. "These records paint a deeply troubling picture of the violent methods used by ICE," Chioma Chukwu, the executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement. "In just the first months of this administration, ICE’s own data shows a dramatic spike of nearly 400 percent in use-of-force incidents — with people hospitalized, bystanders swept up in operations, and even the death of a U.S. citizen." A DHS spokesperson said in a statement that Martinez "intentionally ran over" an agent with DHS’ Homeland Security Investigations and another agent "fired defensive shots." The nearly year-old incident is under investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety Ranger Division, a DHS spokesperson said. A spokesperson with Texas DPS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The shooting involved a Homeland Security Investigations team that was conducting an immigration enforcement operation in conjunction with local police, according to ... non-profit watchdog group based in Washington. The records are part of a tranche ... non-profit obtained as part of a Freedom ... Though Martinez’s death on 15 March 2025 was reported by local media outlets ... “intentionally ran over a Homeland ... ”, resulting in another agent firing “defensive shots to protect himself ... ”. The department did not respond to questions ... . An HSI supervisory special agent standing by the side of the car then fired his weapon multiple times through the open driver’s-side window, and the vehicle stopped. Paramedics already on the scene of the accident quickly provided medical aid and the driver was taken by ambulance to a regional hospital in Brownsville, where he was pronounced dead, according to the report. The passenger, also a US citizen, was taken into custody. The HSI officer whom the report says was struck by the vehicle was treated for an unspecified knee injury at a nearby hospital and released. The names of the two HSI agents involved in the shooting and the names of the two men in the car were all redacted from the ICE report, but Reyes confirmed the driver was her son. She said he was shot three times. Reyes said she first learned her son had been shot by a federal agent, rather than a local police officer, about a week after he was killed. She was contacted by an investigator from the Texas Rangers, the lead agency looking into the shooting. Reyes said the investigator told her there were videos of the shooting that contradicted the account provided by federal agents. DHS did not immediately respond to an email Friday about the claim that there is video showing a different account. She said she was told by the investigator that the state report into the shooting was completed in October and that the case would be presented to a grand jury for potential criminal charges.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has told Newsweek that a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent fired "defensive shots" at a driver after he "intentionally ran over" another federal agent. Immigration agents shot and killed Ruben Ray Martinez, 23 ... on March 15, ... in South Padre Island, Texas, but the involvement of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) HSI unit was not publicly disclosed at the time. New details later emerged through internal ICE records obtained by watchdog American Oversight via a Freedom of Information Act request and reviewed by Newsweek. Rachel Reyes, mother of Ruben Ray Martinez, told Newsweek via email, “Since Ruben’s death a year ago, all we have wanted is justice for him and we have struggled with the silence surrounding his killing. Now, the country is in crisis - and, terribly, heartbreakingly, other families are enduring what we have. It’s my hope that attention being raised now into Ruben’s death will help bring the justice we want for him and the answers we haven’t had.” In a statement to Newsweek, DHS said HSI agents were assisting the South Padre Island Police Department following a major accident. "A driver of a blue Ford intentionally ran over a Homeland Security Investigation ... resulting in him being on the hood of the vehicle. Upon witnessing this, another agent fired defensive shots to protect himself, his ... ," a spokesperson for the agency said. "The driver was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. The agent who was ran over sustained a knee injury and was taken to the hospital." Newsweek has been unable to independently corroborate the agency’s account. Image: Ruben Ray Martinez, 23 ... was shot by a federal agent in South Padre Island, Texas, on March 15, ... . ... DHS said the incident remains under investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Ranger Division and directed any additional questions to that agency. "I can confirm that this is an ongoing investigation by the Texas Rangers, and no other information is available at this time," Christopher Olivarez, spokesperson with the Texas Department of Public Safety, told Newsweek. The FBI’s San Antonio field office is not involved in the probe, Special Agent Carmen Portillo told Newsweek. It remains unclear whether body-worn camera footage exists or whether members of Congress were formally notified at the time of the shooting. The case appears to be the first known instance of a federal agent fatally shooting a U.S. citizen under the Trump administration’s hard-line mass deportation policy. South Pedro Island Police Department told Newsweek on Thursday that its officers were working the incident on March 15, ... but said the officer-involved shooting was referred to the Texas Rangers so it could not comment further.