Newly released records revealed that a federal immigration agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen in Texas in March of last year, months before the Trump administration launched a deportation spree in Minnesota that has seen fatal shootings.
Ruben Ray Martinez — 23 years old — was killed by agents of the Department of Homeland Security, lawyers for Martinez’s family said in a statement, Reuters reported.
A DHS agent fired several shots at Martinez
According to records obtained by the nonprofit watchdog group American Oversight, a Department of Homeland Security agent fired multiple shots at Martinez after he allegedly hit another agent with his car while the agents were assisting local police in South Padre Island, Texas with traffic control following the crash on March 15, 2025.
Martinez, who was identified in redacted records as an American citizen, was taken to a hospital in nearby Brownsville, Texas, where he was later pronounced dead.
The agent who was hit by the car went to the hospital for a knee injury and was later released, according to the report.
A DHS spokesman said in a statement that Martinez “intentionally ran over” an agent with a DHS homeland security investigation and another agent “fired defensive shots.”
“A full and fair investigation…”
Martinez was trying to comply with instructions from local law enforcement when he was shot, Charles Stam and Alex Stamm, attorneys for Martinez’s family, said in a statement. They called for a “full and fair investigation”.
“Ruben’s family has been seeking transparency and accountability for nearly a year and will continue to do so for as long as necessary,” the two lawyers said.
The rising death toll has increased scrutiny of Trump’s immigration crackdown, sparking a backlash among lawmakers and the public.
“These records paint a deeply disturbing picture of the violent methods used by ICE,” Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement. “In just the first months of this administration, ICE’s own data shows a dramatic increase of nearly 400% in use-of-force incidents — with people hospitalized, bystanders swept up in operations, and even the death of an American citizen.”
$170 billion for immigration agencies
The Trump administration is dramatically increasing immigration enforcement, with $170 billion earmarked for immigration agencies through September 2029, a historic amount.
The nearly year-old incident is being investigated by the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Ranger Division, a DHS spokesman said.
A spokesman for the Texas DPS said the case is still an active investigation by the Texas Rangers and declined to comment further, Reuters reported.
