A Texas grand jury indicted immigration agent Mario Alberto Morales on October 30, 2026, charging him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly veered his unmarked SUV into 48-year-old construction worker Miguel Parra Hernandez during an October 10 traffic stop in Houston, leaving him with severe leg fractures.
Grand Jury Returns Indictment Against ICE Officer Mario Alberto Morales
A Harris County grand jury indicted 33-year-old U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Mario Alberto Morales on a second-degree felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare announced the indictment during an October 30, 2026, news conference alongside Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
The charge stems from an October 10 morning encounter along a commercial stretch of Clay Road in northwest Harris County. Federal immigration agents were attempting to stop a pickup truck carrying two men when the vehicle came to a stop and the occupants fled on foot. Miguel Parra Hernandez, a 48-year-old unauthorized immigrant from Mexico who had lived in Texas for over three decades, ran from the scene and was struck by Morales’s unmarked Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Prosecutors said the collision resulted in multiple fractures to Parra-Hernandez’s legs, breaking one leg in three places and causing hip injuries. He remained hospitalized in a rehabilitation facility weeks after the incident.
Body Camera Video, 911 Audio, and Competing Accounts of the Collision
During the October 30 press briefing, prosecutors played graphic footage from Morales’s body-worn camera alongside surveillance video showing the pursuit and impact. Teare told reporters that the evidence demonstrated the driver had intentionally targeted the fleeing man.
As you can clearly see, Morales aggressively steered his vehicle into Parra Hernandez. Not only did he hit Mr. Hernandez, he ran over both of his legs, leaving him seriously injured and hospitalized to this day.
Sean Teare, Harris County District Attorney
The newly released audio recordings captured Morales calling 911 immediately after the collision. Body camera footage also showed Morales walking over to Parra-Hernandez as he lay on the pavement crying out in pain.
Federal immigration officials strongly disputed the prosecutor’s characterization of the event. In an official statement, an ICE spokesperson denounced the criminal filing as a political stunt
and maintained that local authorities lacked jurisdiction over federal law enforcement personnel acting in the line of duty.
Allegations that ICE struck Miguel Parra Hernandez intentionally are reckless and false.
ICE spokesperson
Lindenmuth defended Morales’s background, noting that he spent two years as a military police officer and paratrooper.
Disputed Target Identity and Escalating Conflict Over Evidence
The investigation also uncovered conflicting accounts regarding the intended target of the immigration operation. Federal authorities maintained they were conducting a targeted enforcement operation to arrest a man named Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, who they claimed was seen entering a vehicle with Parra-Hernandez. However, the Houston-based immigrant rights advocacy group FIEL, speaking on behalf of Parra-Hernandez’s family and the target’s daughter, presented a Mexican death certificate showing that Jose Hector Jimenez — identified by advocates as the same individual — died in 2017 while being pursued by federal authorities.
🛑 Texas DA Indicts ICE Officer for Running Over a Man During a Chase 🛑A Harris County grand jury just indicted ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales, 33, for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The weapon was his vehicle.DA Sean Teare says bakery surveillance and… pic.twitter.com/5oGnJ1SXru
Tensions between local and federal authorities intensified over access to physical evidence. Court documents outlined how Harris County investigators attempted to examine and download crash data from the Jeep Grand Cherokee involved in the collision. According to the sworn affidavit, local authorities gave notice of their intent to secure the vehicle, but federal agents declined to consent to a data download. Before local deputies could impound the SUV, an agent drove it away from the scene.
District Attorney Teare further alleged that the Department of Homeland Security failed to cooperate with local investigators and that federal authorities had already proceeded with deporting at least two material witnesses connected to the case. Prosecutors noted that Morales had not yet been taken into custody following the grand jury’s decision, though authorities remained in contact with his legal counsel.
More on Mario Alberto Morales
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, Mario Alberto Morales, has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly driving his unmarked vehicle into Mexican construction worker Miguel Parra Hernandez. pic.twitter.com/65eoNnkYaf