Houston ICE crash: New York Times reports suspect died years ago

You have you got quite the get in terms of an interview earlier and the daughter of a man I says was in the vehicle when Mr. Perez Arenas was hit by that car or who they were looking for, rather, who they say was in the vehicle when that incident took place. Do you mind if I just ask, you know, how were you able to find her? Did she reach out to you or was it one of those things where diligence just really paid off? Jamie Jimenez saw that photo that DHS had released and recognized the man as her father. She reached out to FIEL, which is the immigrant rights group that has been helping assisting Miguel Parra Hernandez's family. And she was sobbing. She said her family has been horrified to see that that photo proliferated online and in newscasts. newscast and she wanted to come forward and clear his name and then she she later uh reached out to me um and so i spoke with her and and talked about how what a what a painful experience this has been how it's opened some deep deep wounds for her and her her loved ones i'm sure um as you and the team at the Times began to look into this and of course look into the man behind that photo what what was going through your mind as you began to piece together you know what was being said what jamie told you and then of course ICE's version of events yeah so we we wanted to uh we wanted to compile as much evidence corroborating her account as we could um she provided a mexican death certificate that showed um uh her that well she she said that her father's name is actually jose um hector jimenez mendoza and that he went by aliases and that they believe that you know the the name that i that i had released that dhs had released um could have been one of those or was one of those and um so she provided photos that resembled the man uh this is mexican death certificate that showed that he had died in Laredo she said that her father had actually He died in a different immigration pursuit near the southern border in October 2017. So he'd been deceased for almost a decade. We also did many court record searches, compiled documents showing that the charges that ICE attributed to the man that they were targeting matched those of Mr. Jimenez, Mendoza, and those were driving under the influence and unlawful possession of a weapon. So putting all of these things together, she provided even her own birth certificate to show that this was her father. We moved forward. As you were compiling all your research, did you see the different aliases that you mentioned in those court records or was it just um the name that you said was his given name um Jimenez Mendoza or did you see Miguel um Cervantes in there at all yeah no we we saw his the name his his given name and um his we we did we also did uh searches for uh the other man but there's there's there's so uh we there's so many uh Jose it's the common name in in Texas um and so there are, uh, many men who have variations of that name living in Texas. And that's something I know that we've run into ourselves for you and your team. How were you able to distinguish between, um, Jamie's father and the other men? Because as you mentioned, this is quite a common name in the state of Texas. Well, we had, we, we were working with, uh, um, we, we had Jamie and on this, uh, as this information, we had, we had a lot more information that she provided. You mentioned that this was a hard time for Jamie and for her family and that she contacted Fiel in tears. As you began to speak with her, what kind of emotional toll was this conversation taking as you were trying to confirm, of course, this information and understand her perspective of what was going on? Yeah, so she told us, you know, that her father had built a life in Dallas as an undocumented worker that he that he had crossed illegally back and forth at least twice into the United States. And that, you know, he had married her mother and had two daughters, including herself. And it was a very painful experience because in the years leading up to his death, they had actually been estranged. And she had actually been thinking about trying to mend that relationship. But he soon passed away and she didn't get a chance to do that. But regardless of all of this, she said that he was a very hard worker, that he provided for his loved ones, that it was him who had encouraged her to go to college and it was actually um during her college graduation that he wanted that she wanted to invite him to that so that they you know as she said in the story um you know she wanted to throw water under the bridge um and and put it all in the past but soon before she even had a chance to do that he he died so it was a very emotional interview and she felt compelled she felt like she needed to come forward um to another uh she and another um other relatives felt that it was important for the the family to to make a statement uh because so much of the they felt misinformation uh about him was was being uh perpetuated online uh uh uh spread in in these newscasts and they wanted to give a fuller picture of who he was in his life for your purposes do you feel you have identified the fact that the man in the photo is not the person that ICE was looking for we've asked ICE a number of questions we've asked them for comment on this a specific incident we've asked if there was some kind of error we have asked um if if it could have been another man that was assuming his identity we've about the protocols in launching this investigation, how it was that there was a mix-up and how did it occur, and we haven't received no response from the agency. The agency has released a statement saying, you know, rejecting other allegations that have been made by other witnesses and, you know, the Harris County District Attorney's Office, which is saying that they're not investigating this as an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. And and they've they've rejected any they've rejected those allegations saying, you know, that that they are false, that they have not spoken to this specifically. It seems like based on what I read in your article and what you're telling me, that there is just still a lot of questions that it seems only DHS can provide and that they are not giving to you at this point. Is that fair to say? Yes, that's that's correct. What do you think is most important for anyone, your audience, mine, to really understand about this incident, Jamie, her family, and Jose, whose name has now been tossed into all of this? Yes, I mean, these were two men whom relatives say did not know each other, did not cross paths in life, and yet now they are linked by this violent arrest. I think this is a microcosm of many other cases that we're seeing across the country as ICE and DHS have escalated their deportation campaign. And in many other cities, we are seeing ICE face this criticism from state and local officials about this pattern of violent and deadly traffic stops. There's been other investigations just in Texas. Independent investigations opened. And we saw, you know, the Harris County DA's office is also investigating the shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who is another construction worker who was on his way, who family members say was on his way to work when he was followed by unmarked ICE vehicles. And so I think for many Americans, this raises questions about the behavior and tactics that are being displayed on the street. And I just want to make sure I understood you correctly. you're saying that jamie says um her father did not know mr parra hernandez yeah jamie jamie and miguel parra hernandez's relatives have said that they they did not know each other um okay i just wanted to make sure that i understood that correctly for for our purposes um i'm just double checking my notes here i think that's everything we have um What do you think is the most important unanswered question for federal officials at this point? And I should say, I should say, Jamie, I mean, Jamie, her father passed away 10, 10 years ago and his life was built in Dallas, not the Houston area. So she doesn't know. She doesn't know how he could possibly have known him. That's fair. And I can make sure we add that, too. That's that's an important detail to make sure we have. yeah is there anything else that you want me to know or you want to make sure that um and everyone else who has read your work knows as well um i would say i mean i i just would reiterate that um you know miss jimenez wanted uh to come forward uh because there's just so many questions she still has so many questions about the day her father died uh under pursuit of immigration authorities. And now she has even more questions about why he's being linked to this new incident.