ICE scrambles to turn another victim of its violence into a criminal

Facebook Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window)Bluesky Share on X (Opens in new window)X Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard Save 0 Comments Add Daily Kos to Google Demonstrators gather in response to the shooting of Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a Venezuelan man who was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer on Sept. 20.AP There’s such a depressing sameness to these constant Immigration and Customs Enforcement attacks, especially as the agency ramps up its public reign of terror after going a little more low-key for a few months.

In the last few days alone, ICE both ran over a person and shot someone else, so keeping track of their terror can be difficult.

In Harris County, Texas, an ICE agent ran over a man on Saturday because he was doing the extremely terrifying and dangerous act of running away. Was this man, Miguel Parra-Hernandez, the target of one of their brutal enforcement actions? No, he was not! 

The media is twisting itself into knots to avoid saying that ICE just stone-cold ran over a man, resulting in such gems as this, from ABC13 Houston: “Man run over by ICE-driven SUV during pursuit recovering with both legs broken, family says.”

Huh. Did the whole agency somehow get in the vehicle which then—of its own volition—ran over a person? Seems improbable from a physics standpoint, if nothing else. 

And here’s CBS: “Vehicle driven by ICE agents in Texas hits and injures man, sheriff says.”

Those damn vehicles, always hitting people of their own volition. 

Stripped of these niceties, here’s what actually happened: ICE did one of its patented moves where it pulls up on a car, aggressively trying to block or hit it. When the men in the vehicle jumped out to run away, an ICE agent drove his truck toward one of them, running him over. 

Related | Survive an ICE shooting? Get charged with a crime.

Of course, that’s not what ICE says happened. 

“As ICE officers attempted to apprehend the illegal aliens, Miguel Parra-Hernandez ran in front of an ICE vehicle and was struck,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement.

Yeah, no. There’s a video of the attack, proving that—and you will be so surprised to learn this—ICE is not telling the truth. 

Parra-Hernandez was running away, the ICE vehicle drove straight for him, and now his leg is broken in three places.

ICE has helpfully issued a statement that Parra-Hernandez is now in custody—because that’s what happens to people who survive ICE attacks. Parra-Hernandez, who is 48, has lived in the Houston area for 34 years with no criminal record, but ICE doesn’t care.

While Parra-Hernandez hasn’t yet been charged with a crime, he very well might be, as that’s the pattern that has arisen.

When an ICE goon in Austin, Texas, shot Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez through his car, they charged him with assault. Pérez’s crime? Making a DoorDash delivery and not stopping when an unmarked ICE vehicle tried to hit his car.

And when an ICE thug shot a man through his door in Minneapolis, he was charged for brutally attacking the poor defenseless ICE agent. Of course, when video emerged, it showed that the officer shot Julio Sosa-Celis, who was running away from him, only seconds after arriving on the scene. 

And in Chicago, when an ICE goon shot Marimar Martinez as she sat in her car, they charged her with attempting to ram an ICE vehicle. They later had to drop that when it became clear that there was no danger to the agents at all.

In fact, Charles Exum, the thug who shot her, bragged about it to his buddies: “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys,” he texted. 

He also got very hyped about coverage of his attempted murder, forwarding an article to some pals with, “Read it. 5 shots, 7 holes.”

Man, these people cannot be allowed to return to polite society when all this is done. They glory in unchecked violence, and none of us should have to live among these monsters.

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