TEXAS — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed its involvement in the fatal shooting of 23-year-old U.S. citizen Ruben Ray Martinez by an ICE agent in Texas in February 2026, 11 months after the incident occurred. Body camera footage released by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows shots being fired into Martinez's vehicle.

The shooting represents the first publicly known instance of ICE fatally shooting a U.S. citizen as part of President Trump's immigration crackdown. The Department of Homeland Security stated that Martinez intentionally rammed his vehicle into an ICE agent during the February 2025 incident.

Martinez was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Texas one year before March 19, 2026. Martinez was in South Padre celebrating his birthday during spring break.

Charles Stam, attorney for the Martinez family, said that nothing in the body camera footage suggested Martinez posed a threat to the public or law enforcement. "The footage shows Martinez yielding at a crosswalk to allow several young women to pass," Stam said. "People who use their vehicles as weapons do not yield to pedestrians at crosswalks."

Stam said he saw nothing in the video that remotely justified the use of force against Martinez. He said the scene of the incident was confusing and that other drivers had difficulty navigating it.

Rachel Reyes, mother of Ruben Ray Martinez, said her son would not have used his vehicle as a weapon. An official told Reyes that traffic was slowed by an accident, that Martinez was going very slowly, and that an officer saw a container in his vehicle. The official told her that Martinez's vehicle tapped an officer, and that the officer shot him for that reason.

Joshua Orta was in the car with Martinez during the shooting and later died in a car crash. Orta told Stam's law firm that Martinez would never try to strike or hit or let alone run over a law enforcement officer. Law enforcement interrogated Orta after the shooting and before his death.

The Department of Homeland Security said that a grand jury unanimously found no criminality and cleared the ICE officer involved in Martinez's shooting. Reyes said her family is seeking accountability. Martinez's family is still searching for answers one year after the incident.