There are no videos from concerned citizens documenting the last seconds of Ruben Ray Martinez’s life to contradict the official report of his shooting death by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2025.
But because videos documenting the last seconds of the lives of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis this year contradict the official narratives of those shootings by federal agents, skepticism about Martinez’s case has grown.
For these reasons we agree with the call for Department of Justice and congressional investigations into the shooting. It’s imperative that these investigations are handled independently.
Here is what we do know: Martinez was a 23-year-old San Antonian celebrating his birthday on Padre Island when an ICE agent shot him to death March 15. His death was reported at the time, but with no mention he had been shot by a federal immigration agent.
The Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, only confirmed that one of their officers killed Martinez after a Newsweek report last week reviewed internal incident reports obtained by the watchdog American Oversight through a Freedom of Information Act request.
DHS has justified the shooting, saying the agent fired “defensive shots” at Martinez after he “intentionally ran over” another agent.
Whether this is true, DHS also believed it was OK to not reveal that an American law enforcement agency had killed an American citizen.
That is disconcerting under any conditions. It’s even more so given DHS’ history of playing fast and loose with the truth.
Last October, during DHS’ “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago, a federal agent shot Marimar Martinez five times. The Department of Homeland Security alleged she was among a group of vehicles that “ambushed” and “rammed” federal agents.
She was arrested and charged with assaulting a federal officer. The charges were dropped when body camera and security video showed that the agent was the aggressor and had opened fire.
In January, Good and Pretti were killed during ICE and Customs and Border Protection’s operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. After an agent shot and killed Good, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused the mother of committing an act of terrorism and Trump alleged that she “viciously ran over” the ICE officer.
Video showed those were lies.
After CBP agents shot Pretti 10 times as he was subdued on the ground, the administration accused him of being an assassin and domestic terrorist intent on committing a massacre.
Video showed that was a lie.
This is why the public is rightfully skeptical about the government’s allegation that Martinez weaponized his vehicle. DHS has lost all credibility and no longer is deserving of any benefit of the doubt.
We agree with U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro’s call for a Justice Department investigation into the shooting, and we also agree with San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, who said the department can’t be trusted and Congress should also investigate.
