Man Killed by Truck While Running From ICE in Florida

A man was struck and killed by a truck in Florida while fleeing a federal immigration operation Tuesday, the Florida Highway Patrol confirmed, the third death connected to immigration enforcement efforts in the past week.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents encountered a vehicle in a gas station parking lot in St. Augustine, according to a statement from Master Sgt. Dylan L. Bryan with the Florida Highway Patrol. Four people fled the vehicle on foot, including one who ran into the road and was fatally hit by a tractor trailer.

The Florida Highway Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations are investigating the traffic fatality of the Mexican national, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

The incident took place around 7 a.m. Tuesday. Just hours later, ICE reportedly ordered its agents to temporarily halt most car stops, following a request from Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). The policy shift came after a pair of fatal shootings at the hands of ICE agents in Texas and Collins’ home state.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NOTUS.

On Monday, an immigration agent fatally shot Colombian national Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine. Less than a week earlier, an agent fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, in Houston. The Department of Homeland Security later confirmed that neither man had been the target of an operation.

“While the investigation of the Biddeford shooting is not yet complete, it raises sufficient critical questions that I spoke with DHS Secretary Mullin last night and urged him to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops,” Collins said in a statement Tuesday.

These recent deaths have prompted outrage from some lawmakers. On Tuesday, Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-Rhode Island) gave a House floor speech condemning ICE.

“How many more people have to be killed in broad daylight?” Magaziner shouted.

Magaziner noted that when Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin was confirmed, he said he wanted “to get the department off the front page of the news. Well, you’re back on the goddamn front page now.”

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said ICE’s job was not to carry out traffic stops: “It’s not helpful, and it’s also politically damaging,” he said of the three back-to-back deaths.

“We don’t want to see anybody pass away, but you fled federal law enforcement. You’re not supposed to do that,” said Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, who is also running for governor in Florida.

In a statement, the Florida Immigrant Coalition emphasized that these are not “isolated incidents” and defended the idea that someone might run from ICE agents.

“It is perfectly understandable that someone has that reaction after being chased by agents who, in the last seven days, have killed two innocent men. When federal agents descend on communities and initiate encounters that spark panic and fear, people run. They run because they are afraid,” said Adriana Rivera, the coalition’s communications director.