ICE officer accused of hitting immigrant in Houston with an SUV turns himself in

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, Mario Alberto Morales, turned himself in on Monday after being accused of intentionally ramming his car into a Mexican construction worker, Miguel Parra Hernandez, with an unmarked SUV in Houston, according to his attorney, David Lindenmuth. The incident occurred on October 10 when Morales pursued Parra Hernandez through a parking lot.

A grand jury indicted Morales on a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on Friday, with bond set at $30,000, lower than the $75,000 initially requested by prosecutors. Morales' attorney stated that his client is a "good man" and did not commit the crime. Parra Hernandez suffered a broken leg and is recovering in a federal rehabilitation facility.

The alleged incident comes amid heightened scrutiny of ICE officers' actions during President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement crackdown. Video footage shows Morales' vehicle driving over a median and striking Parra Hernandez as he fled the scene, with prosecutors contending that Parra Hernandez ran into the path of the vehicle.

Morales had been an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer for just over a year and had unsuccessfully run for Congress in the same year. He previously served in the Army. Morales had a prior misdemeanor conviction for stealing four DVDs, which was dismissed under a plea deal in which he paid a $270 fine.