An ICE officer is charged with assault for striking a man with a car in Houston

HOUSTON (AP) — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of intentionally ramming his car into a Mexican construction worker in Houston was indicted by a grand jury Friday on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, prosecutors said.

The officer, Mario Alberto Morales, was driving an unmarked SUV on Oct. 10 when he struck and ran over Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, who was running away during a pursuit through a parking lot, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. Parra Hernandez broke his leg and remains in federal custody at a rehabilitation facility, said District Attorney Sean Teare, who announced the indictment at a news conference that included body camera video of the encounter and a recording of Morales calling 911.

ICE has asserted that Parra Hernandez ran in front of the vehicle, an account that Teare said is contradicted by video.

“The evidence we have in this case is as clear as any that I’ve ever prosecuted or investigated,” Teare said.

Morales, 33, is one of just a few federal officers who have faced criminal charges over their actions on the job during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, although other encounters have come under investigation, including a fatal shooting by an ICE officer this summer in Houston.

Morales’ attorney, David Lindenmuth, said his client did not commit a crime. He and ICE both said Morales did not intentionally strike Parra Hernandez and accused the Democratic district attorney of indicting Morales for political reasons.

“Mr. Morales is truly a good man, a former member of our military, that has given his entire life to public service either for his country or in or adjacent to law enforcement,” Lindenmuth told The Associated Press. “To have him charged for what was so clearly just an accident — the DA’s office, the DA himself, has invented a crime out of thin air.”

Teare hinted at concerns over Morales’ background but would not provide details.

Morales had worked as an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer for a little more than a year, Lindenmuth said.

Morales, who is charged with a second-degree felony, was not in custody Friday and a warrant will be issued for his arrest, according to Teare.

Parra Hernandez has lived in Harris County for more than 30 years and did not have a deportation order or criminal background, according to Teare.

He was in a vehicle that ICE tried to stop. He jumped out and was followed by Morales, who was in a Jeep Cherokee. Previously released surveillance video shows the Jeep speed over a median and drive toward Parra Hernandez as he runs away.

Morales' body camera footage that Teare played Friday shows the officer making a few sharp moves with the steering wheel before the SUV shakes. Morales stops the vehicle, then gets out and turns toward Parra Hernandez, who is several feet away. Parra Hernandez is on the ground and grabbing his leg, yelling in pain.

Morales is heard saying, “He got hit with a car, bro.” It is not clear to whom he is talking.

“I was coming in and I hit him with the car,” Morales says after another ICE officer arrives.

In a 911 audio recording in which Morales requests an ambulance, Parra Hernandez can be heard yelling. Morales tells the operator, “He’s fine. He’s just complaining of pain.”

Parra Hernandez told deputies that he believed a police officer was stopping the vehicle he was in but got scared and fled when the man started putting on a mask.

He repeatedly told deputies that Morales “threw the car at me,” according to a Harris County Sheriff’s Office incident report reviewed by the AP.

Morales told deputies he did not intentionally hit Parra Hernandez. He acknowledged that he did not brake before hitting Parra Hernandez and said he was trying to avoid another truck in the parking lot.

Body camera video indicated that Morales had two other suspects in custody in his backseat, according to the report. But the deputy wrote that Morales told them there was no one else inside.

“From the beginning the video told a different story than what was offered by the agency,” Parra Hernandez's attorney, Kim Bruno, said Friday, adding that her client has suffered not just fractures in his leg, but nerve damage and chronic pain.

Other aspects of ICE's account have also been called into question.

After Parra Hernandez was taken into custody, ICE released a photo of another man, Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, and said he was the target of the operation that day. ICE said he was seen entering a vehicle with Parra Hernandez. Family members of Parra Hernandez said they had never heard of him. FIEL, an immigrant rights group in Houston that has been working with the family, said Mendoza-Cervantes' daughter told them her father has been dead since 2017.

Teare’s office has previously said its investigation has not found that Parra Hernandez and the man ICE identified as Mendoza-Cervantes were in a vehicle together, contrary to ICE’s statement.

ICE has not responded to claims that the suspect they were looking for has been dead for years.

Wilder reported from Austin, Texas. Brook reported from New Orleans.

Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Cesar Espinosa, FIEL executive director, center, speaks during a news conference at FIEL in Houston, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, about the indictment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Mario Alberto Morales by a Harris County grand jury. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, left, and Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, right, attend a news conference Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in Houston, announcing the indictment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Mario Alberto Morales by a Harris County grand jury. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare speaks during a news conference in Houston on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (Melissa Phillip /Houston Chronicle via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — The federal government must pull three taxpayer-funded Trump administration ads that appear to have been made for political or propaganda purposes, including one touting the president’s claim that every American will get $5,000 if Republicans keep control of Congress in the upcoming election, a judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon in New York sided with a coalition, including the nonpartisan watchdog Common Cause, in ordering the government to take down the advertisements entitled “$5,000 to Americans,” “Every Democrat Voted Against No Tax on Tips,” and “Cost of Socialism." She declined to pull several other ads.

She said the three ads must be taken off official government websites, including social media sites such as YouTube, Instagram and the like. Rochon also ordered the cancellation of any plans for the airing or distribution of the ads through authorized third parties, including by President Donald Trump’s flagship super PAC, MAGA Inc.

Rochon was nominated to the court by then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and once served as a law clerk for Trump’s sister, the late Maryanne Trump Barry, a longtime federal appeals court judge.

Responding to the ruling, White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said: "This Biden-appointed activist judge issued a lawless order to stop the administration from sharing patriotic videos.”

Rochon ruled during a hearing in which she considered expanding a temporary restraining order she issued two weeks ago, when she banned a series of ads that glorify Trump and echo his political messaging going into the midterms.

The plaintiffs sought the removal of at least 13 ads, but Rochon only ordered that the three be pulled, at least for now. She noted that the Government Accountability Office has observed that there are instances when the president's office is entitled to inform the public of its policies, justify its policies and respond to attacks on its policies.

Rochon said the plaintiffs were seeking to restrict the office in ways that were “broad and far reaching” and she found herself concluding that the government will ultimately prevail legally with regard to many of the ads.

The White House has defended the ads as public service announcements akin to what past administrations have made to promote various policies. But the recent ads differ from many past public service announcements because they don't try to help the public benefit from specific government programs, according to the plaintiffs.

After Rochon issued the order, she noted that she was doing so on a Friday afternoon and that the government would have no excuse to delay taking them down immediately.

A government lawyer acknowledged that he would be able to immediately notify relevant individuals responsible for taking down the ads.

“Everyone is here. Everyone can hear my order. No one is at the theater,” the judge quipped in a reference to excuses offered by government lawyers when her recent order, issued over a weekend, wasn't immediately obeyed.

Rochon said irreparable harm could result to the plaintiffs if she didn't ban the ads while the court case proceeds, though she noted that she could reverse herself and restore the ads or ban additional ads after hearing more evidence in the coming weeks.

“This court can neither postpone an election nor turn back the clock,” Rochon said after concluding that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claims regarding the ads and would suffer harm if they were not taken down.

“This temporary restraining order will stop the administration’s wanton disregard for the law while the court hears the full case,” said Bradley Girard, a lawyer with Democracy Forward. “Congress has made clear that partisan ads cannot be funded with taxpayer dollars, and we are proud to work with this coalition to earn today’s result.”

In court papers, the coalition's lawyers wrote that Congress did not appropriate funds to the president's office “to run a PR shop to help the President’s allies and attack his perceived ideological opponents.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Oestericher wrote in response to the plaintiffs that there was nothing wrong with White House staff compiling advertisements to “inform the public about his policies and to rebut attacks on those policies and his Administration.”

Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump walks to board Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)