Harris County DA says indicted ICE officer faces two to 20 years in prison

Prosecutor says he respects law enforcement but backs deporting undocumented violent felons

Mario Alberto Morales, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer indicted in the October 10 vehicle strike that injured a Mexican national in Texas, faces two to 20 years in prison if convicted of the second-degree felony, according to Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, who announced the indictment at a news conference in Houston on Friday.

Teare stressed that he has the utmost respect for law enforcement and said he believes undocumented individuals who are violent felons should be deported.

He said he hoped the prosecution would not only deliver justice for Parra-Hernandez and his family but also send “a loud and clear message to every ICE officer who feels that they have a free pass to terrorise our streets”.

The penalty range comes in a case in which a Harris County grand jury indicted Morales on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to the district attorney. Morales is accused of running over Miguel Parra-Hernandez, a 48-year-old Mexican national who was living in the United States without legal documentation, leaving him with multiple leg fractures and a hip injury.

Teare said Morales pursued a vehicle driven by Parra-Hernandez on the morning of October 10, and that Parra-Hernandez and another occupant fled on foot before the officer “aggressively steered his vehicle” into the Mexican national. “Not only did he hit Mr Hernandez, he ran over both of his legs, leaving him seriously injured and hospitalised to this day,” Teare said at the Houston news conference.

According to Teare, Parra-Hernandez has lived in Texas for more than 30 years without legal documentation, has no criminal record and is not subject to a deportation order. Teare said Morales called 911 after the encounter and reported that Parra-Hernandez had hit his car. The district attorney said ICE was allegedly pursuing a different man at the time: Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, a Mexican national and undocumented immigrant who has apparently been dead for nine years.

Immediately after the incident, before the indictment, an ICE spokesperson told CBS News, the BBC’s US media partner, that Parra-Hernandez had run in front of the agent’s vehicle. Following the indictment, the agency rejected the allegations brought by the grand jury. “This is nothing more than a political stunt by Houston sanctuary politicians,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement to the BBC. “Allegations that ICE struck Miguel Parra-Hernandez intentionally are RECKLESS and FALSE,” the spokesperson said, adding that the men and women of ICE “are entrusted with upholding the rule of law and are held to the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and ethical conduct”.

ICE’s statement added that federal officers acting in the course of their duties could be investigated only by other federal agencies, and the spokesperson insisted local governments do not have the authority to run such an investigation. A grand jury is a panel of citizens empowered to determine whether sufficient evidence exists to bring criminal charges.

The indictment comes amid heightened immigration enforcement under the Trump administration and a series of violent incidents involving federal agents that have resulted in injuries and deaths.