Internal ICE records obtained through a FOIA lawsuit revealed that a Homeland Security Investigations agent fatally shot 23-year-old U.S. citizen Ruben Ray Martinez during a March 2025 traffic incident in Texas, contradicting earlier public reporting and sparking mounting calls from lawmakers and watchdog groups for a full, independent investigation into what critics describe as a months-long cover-up amid broader scrutiny of ICE’s use of deadly force.

Source: Aaron Parnas, Substack

US citizen, 23, was shot and killed by ICE agent nearly a year BEFORE Renee Good and Alex Pretti

Story by Sophie Gable

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An American citizen was shot and killed by a federal agent last March, nearly a year before two Minneapolis residents died at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. 

An American citizen was shot and killed by a federal agent last March, nearly a year before two Minneapolis residents died at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. 
Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was fatally shot in South Padre Island, Texas, on March 15, 2025, according to newly released documents by the watchdog organization American Oversight, viewed by the Daily Mail and first reported by Newsweek. 
The 352-page release was published by American Oversight and included several ‘significant incident’ reports by ICE never before seen by the public. 
An incident report from last March revealed that an American citizen was shot by an ICE officer after allegedly striking an agent in a Blue Ford 4-door vehicle.
Martinez was allegedly driving the vehicle and came in contact with federal agents conducting immigration enforcement operations while working with the South Padre Island Police Department. 
The Department of Homeland Security said in the report that multiple officers gave commands for the vehicle to stop and surrounded the Blue Ford. 
‘The driver accelerated forward, striking a HSI special agent who wound upon on the hood of the vehicle,’ the incident report stated. 
One of the agents then discharged ‘multiple rounds at the driver through the open driver’s side window.’ 

And

Who Was Ruben Ray Martinez? US Citizen Fatally Shot by ICE Agent

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Published

Feb 21, 2026 at 09:22 AM EST

updated

Feb 21, 2026 at 11:41 AM EST

By Khaleda Rahman

National Correspondent

Newsweek is a Trust Project member

Ruben Ray Martinez, the U.S. citizen who was shot and killed by a federal immigration agent on South Padre Island in Texas last year, had traveled there to celebrate his 23rd birthday, his mother said.

Martinez was shot by an officer with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a branch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on March 15 last year, but the involvement of ICE was not publicly disclosed at the time.  

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that a HSI officer shot and killed Martinez only after Newsweek reported details about the shooting earlier this week, after reviewing internal incident reports obtained by the watchdog American Oversight through a Freedom of Information Act request.

DHS said in a statement to Newsweek on Friday that the HSI agent fired “defensive shots” at a driver after he “intentionally ran over” another agent. DHS said the HSI team were assisting local police following a major incident.

Ruben Ray Martinez in a family handout and file images shows an ICE patch and ba…Read More | Jim Watson – Pool/Getty Images

The Context

The fatal shooting of Martinez appears to be the first known instance of a federal agent fatally shooting a U.S citizen and the earliest of at least six deadly shootings by federal officers since the start of a nationwide immigration crackdown in President Donald Trump’s second term.

The fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens—Renee Good and Alex Pretti—by federal officers in Minneapolis in January ignited protests and prompted changes to the Minnesota immigration operation. Trump administration officials had initially said Good and Pretti intended to harm federal agents when they were killed, but videos that emerged of the shootings challenged the administration’s narrative.

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What To Know 

Martinez’s mother, Rachel Reyes, told The Associated Press that her son, who had just turned 23, and his best friend drove from San Antonio down to the beach for the weekend to celebrate his birthday. South Padre Island, located north of the U.S.-Mexico border, is a popular spring break destination.

“He never really got a chance to go out and experience things. It was his first time getting to go out of town,” she said.

Reyes said her son worked at an Amazon warehouse, liked to play video games and hang out with friends. She said he had never had any prior run-ins with law enforcement.

“He was a nice guy, humble guy. And he wasn’t a violent person at all,” she said.

https://www.newsweek.com/who-was-ruben-ray-martinez-us-citizen-fatally-shot-by-ice-agent-11560138

Note:

‘Worst of the worst’?????

Worst of the worst? Most US immigrants targeted for deportation in 2025 had no criminal charges, documents reveal

A Guardian analysis finds the vast majority of people who entered deportation proceedings for the first time from January to August last year had no criminal convictions

Will CraftSun 22 Feb 2026 13.00 GMTShare

A Guardian analysis of government records has found that the vast majority – 77% – of people who entered deportation proceedings for the first time in 2025 had no criminal conviction, exposing a stark gap between the Trump administration’s rhetoric and reality.

Within days of Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) trotted out a phrase that his surrogates would come to use over and over again: “the worst of the worst.”

The term has become a shorthand justification for the administration’s unprecedented overhaul of immigration enforcement – a relentless campaign the administration claims is focused on arresting and deporting violent criminals.

However, a review of records obtained by the Guardian and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed against DHS, raises questions about those claims.

The findings come from little-known documents known as I-213 forms. DHS uses these forms in court to prove that a person is in the country illegally. The documents are filed when a person first encounters ICE, and DHS begins the deportation process, which is often when they are arrested. The documents contain biographical details about the person, including their criminal history, as well as any information that DHS feels is relevant to the immigration court case.

The Guardian