Pomps

The Newsweek article reports that an ICE agent fatally shot 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez, a U.S. citizen, in South Padre Island, Texas, in March 2025, but internal records show this detail was not publicly disclosed at the time. Local news initially covered Martinez’s death without clarifying that a federal immigration agent fired the fatal shots. According to ICE’s internal narrative, Martinez allegedly drove toward agents, injuring one, and an agent then fired through the driver-side window. Given past outright lies by the agency involving justification of force, we do not believe their account. This narrative also sounds familiar — ICE has used similar justifications before, and in multiple prior case camera footage later contradicted official statements, yet misleading claims were still made. Based on that history, we believe they will continue to lie when it protects the institution. The article highlights concerns about transparency in reporting federal law-enforcement shootings. Available data indicate that, in 2025 alone, at least 32 people died while in ICE custody, the highest total in roughly two decades, and independent trackers document that at least 8 people have been killed in shootings involving ICE or related immigration agents since 2025. These figures represent known and documented deaths linked to ICE enforcement; however, ICE does not publish a centralized breakdown of deaths by citizenship status, and its publicly reported detainee death reports are widely considered incomplete — meaning the actual number of non-citizen deaths related to ICE actions is likely higher than the numbers available in public records. Given these patterns, we believe ICE should be abolished outright and replaced with nothing. We reject the premise that a federal immigration enforcement body exercising this level of force and operating with limited transparency is necessary. We believe any ICE agents who have illegally used deadly force — regardless of whether the victim was a U.S. citizen or a non-citizen — should face independent investigation and, where warranted, criminal indictment. In our view, true accountability requires dismantling the institution entirely rather than reforming or restructuring it.