Immigrant ICE was seeking when it hit man with SUV has been dead since 2017, family says

The person ICE said it was trying to detain when one of its agents struck a man with an SUV in Houston last weekend has been dead since 2017, according to an immigration advocacy group and an attorney who spoke with the deceased immigrant’s family.

ICE said that its agents were “conducting a targeted enforcement operation” to arrest Jose Mendoza-Cervantes when an agent hit and seriously injured Miguel Parra Hernández , 48, on Oct. 10.

In a previous statement, ICE said it attempted a vehicle stop and the two people in the car ran away. The officers tried to apprehend the fleeing men, and “Miguel Parra Hernandez ran in front of an ICE vehicle and was struck,” the ICE spokesperson stated.

The collision left Parra with hip, leg and ankle injuries, including a broken leg, according to his family and representatives.

Afterward, ICE issued a statement that included a headshot of the man it identified as Mendoza-Cervantes with the word “wanted” in capital white letters.

But the daughter of the man identified by ICE as Mendoza-Cervantes told an immigrant civil rights group that the photo was actually of her deceased father.

In a news conference Friday, the leader of FIEL Houston, Cesar Espinosa, said the daughter had identified the man in the photo as his father, José Hector Jimenez Mendoza, who passed away almost a decade ago while trying to enter the United States.

“She called our office sobbing because she saw her dad’s picture all over the news, all over the ICE website, saying they were looking for her dad,” Espinosa said. He added FIEL has turned over all relevant documents to Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare.

The New York Times first reported that Mendoza had died in 2017, stating that Mendoza’s daughter, Jamie Jimenez told the outlet the family was “horrified” to see their dad shown as a fugitive who was alive. She told the newspaper he used aliases, including the one used by ICE.

Parra’s attorney, Kim Bruno, provided a copy of a Mexican death certificate given to her and FIEL by the family. It lists the man’s name as J. Hector Jimenez Mendoza, his death year as 2017 and the location of death as Laredo, Texas. Several sections of the death certificate, which contains identities of parents as well as addresses and cause of death, were blacked out.

Bruno said the news that the man ICE identified as Mendoza-Cervantes is dead is “beyond mind-blowing” and the use of the dead man’s image is “jaw-dropping.”

Espinosa slammed ICE at the press conference and accused the agency of misidentifying the man with Parra.

“Either someone is not telling the truth or, all of a sudden, the two ICE agents have developed a sixth sense and are able to see dead people,” said Espinosa.

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