US Citizen Fatally Shot by Federal Immigration Agent in Texas, Previously Undisclosed Case Revealed
Newly released government records have exposed that a United States citizen was shot and killed in Texas by a federal immigration agent last year during a late-night traffic encounter, an incident that was never publicly disclosed by the Department of Homeland Security. The death of Ruben Ray Martinez, aged 23, represents what appears to be the earliest of at least six deadly shootings by federal officers since the commencement of a nationwide immigration crackdown during Donald Trump's second presidential term.
Details of the South Padre Island Shooting
According to documents obtained by American Oversight, a non-profit watchdog organization based in Washington, the shooting occurred on South Padre Island in March 2025. It involved a Homeland Security Investigations team that was conducting an immigration enforcement operation in collaboration with local police authorities. These records form part of a batch of heavily redacted internal documents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, acquired through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement asserting that the shooting took place after the driver intentionally struck a Homeland Security Investigations special agent. The department claimed that another agent then fired defensive shots to protect himself, his fellow agents, and the general public. However, DHS did not address questions regarding why it had failed to issue any media release or public notification about this officer-involved shooting over the preceding eleven months.
Internal Report and Contradictory Accounts
An internal two-page ICE incident report included in the disclosed documents describes the events shortly after midnight. HSI officers were assisting South Padre Island police by redirecting traffic through a busy intersection following a vehicle accident with several injuries. A blue, four-door Ford with a driver and passenger approached the officers, who ordered the driver to stop. The report does not specify the reason for this command.
Initially, the driver did not respond to commands but eventually came to a stop. Agents then surrounded the vehicle and instructed those inside to exit. According to the report, the driver accelerated forward and struck an HSI special agent, who ended up on the hood of the vehicle. A supervisory special agent standing by the side of the car then fired his weapon multiple times through the open driver's-side window, causing the vehicle to stop.
Paramedics already present at the accident scene quickly provided medical aid. The driver was transported by ambulance to a regional hospital in Brownsville, where he was pronounced dead. The passenger, also a US citizen, was taken into custody. The HSI officer reportedly struck by the vehicle received treatment for an unspecified knee injury at a nearby hospital and was released.
Family's Perspective and Ongoing Investigation
Martinez's mother, Rachel Reyes, confirmed that her son was the driver killed in the incident. She stated that he was shot three times. Reyes explained that her son was just days past his 23rd birthday when he and his best friend drove from San Antonio down to South Padre Island for a weekend beach celebration. The island, located on the Gulf coast just north of the US-Mexico border, is a famous spring break destination that attracts tens of thousands of college-aged partiers each March.
Reyes said she first learned that her son had been shot by a federal agent, rather than a local police officer, about a week after his death. She was contacted by an investigator from the Texas Rangers, the lead agency examining the shooting. Reyes reported that the investigator informed her there were videos of the shooting that contradicted the account provided by federal agents. DHS did not immediately respond to an email on Friday regarding this claim about video evidence showing a different version of events.
She added that the investigator told her the state report into the shooting was completed in October and that the case would be presented to a grand jury for potential criminal charges. The Texas Department of Public Safety, which includes the Rangers, stated on Friday that the investigation into the shooting remains active and declined to offer further information.
Though Martinez's death on March 15, 2025, was reported by local media outlets at the time, federal and state authorities did not disclose that the shooting involved the team from Homeland Security Investigations. The names of the two HSI agents involved in the shooting and the names of the two men in the car were all redacted from the ICE report, highlighting ongoing transparency concerns in such federal operations.
