Internal documents reveal that a U.S. immigration agent shot and killed American citizen Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, during a traffic stop on South Padre Island, Texas, in March 2025. The disclosure, made by the non-profit watchdog American Oversight, marks the earliest known fatality linked to the immigration enforcement operations initiated under President Donald Trump’s second term. Martinez’s death is the third such killing of a U.S. citizen by federal agents during the crackdown, following the separate shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January 2025.
According to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statement, the incident occurred when Martinez “intentionally ran over a Homeland Security Investigation special agent” during the stop. While local media initially reported an officer-involved shooting, the federal involvement and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation were not disclosed until the internal report’s release this week. Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro has accused ICE of a cover-up, calling for an investigation into the eight-month delay in public disclosure.
The Martinez killing predates the Minneapolis incidents but only became public recently, intensifying scrutiny of federal immigration tactics. In response to public outrage over the later shootings, border enforcement official Tom Homan scaled back the deployment of federal agents in Minneapolis. President Trump, while acknowledging his administration might have used “a little bit of a softer touch,” defended the crackdown as focusing on “really hard criminals.” Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons stated that approximately half of the 1.6 million illegal immigrants with final deportation orders are convicted criminals.
However, public support for the aggressive deportation campaign appears to be waning. A recent Ipsos poll for The Washington Post and ABC News found that around 58% of Americans believe the deportations are “going too far,” and 62% oppose ICE’s enforcement tactics. The revelation of Martinez’s death and the delayed transparency are likely to fuel further congressional and public debate over the scope and conduct of federal immigration operations.
