U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) are facing accusations of covering up a fatal shooting after a government watchdog group discovered the incident in a batch of released records. The revelation predated a family’s announcement that a civilian witness to the shooting died in a recent car crash.
American Oversight, a government watchdog organization, filed a public records request with ICE after use-of-force reports uncovered a fatal shooting involving a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent who killed an American citizen in Texas. The Department of Homeland Security didn’t previously disclose the shooting, and Texas authorities told local media that it was an “officer-involved” shooting.
“We only know this because we sued for documents related to ICE’s use of force,” American Oversight said in an X post on Tuesday. “It shouldn’t take a FOIA lawsuit to learn that the government killed someone.”
The South Padre Island Police Department identified Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, as the person killed in the March 15 shooting, according to a report from local TV station KRGV. The department later told the station that none of its officers fired their weapons and that the Texas Rangers had taken over the investigation.
The shooting would mark the third time a DHS-affiliated agent killed an American citizen. Martinez’s killing predated the January shootings of 37-year-olds Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
DHS verified the 2025 shooting in an email to Straight Arrow News, adding that the HSI agent fired the shots to protect himself, other agents and the general public. It referred further questions to Texas DPS.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, accused ICE and the Texas DPS on Monday night of covering up the shooting.
“According to Texas authorities, video evidence calls into question ICE’s own accounting of the fatal shooting of Ruben Ray Martinez,” he wrote on X. “A US citizen was shot and killed by ICE agents and then ICE and DPS attempted to cover it up for nearly a year.”
Texas DPS told SAN on Tuesday that Texas Rangers are still actively investigating the shooting and declined to provide further comment.
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Since Jan. 20, 2025, DHS enforcement operations have resulted in more than 605,000 deportations.
Witness in the shooting dies
Joshua Orta, 25, was in the vehicle last year with Martinez the night of the shooting, lawyers told SAN. He died Saturday night after crashing his car into a utility pole on the city’s south side, according to Fox 5 San Antonio. Police told the station that Orta was driving at high speeds and lost control of the vehicle. Multiple occupants were pinned inside the vehicle before escaping.
“In terms of Ruben’s death, the world has also now lost a critical eyewitness,” Alex Stamm, a lawyer for the Martinez family, said.
He furnished SAN with a copy of Orta’s September statement, where the 25-year-old wrote that his lifelong friend wasn’t armed nor was he violent.
“Ruben did not deserve to die,” Orta wrote.
Watchdog group uncovers fatal ICE shooting
In a Feb. 17 release, American Oversight said its records revealed that top officials in ICE knew officers were using higher-than-normal levels of force as early as March. Records also showed a spike in violence directed at officers.
“In just the first months of this administration,” executive director Chioma Chukwu said, “ICE’s own data shows a dramatic spike of nearly 400% in use-of-force incidents — with people hospitalized, bystanders swept up in operations, and even the death of a U.S. citizen.”
A chief in ICE’s use of force analysis unit wrote in a March 20 email that, from Jan. 19 to March 20 of last year, there was a 353% increase in use of force reports over 60 days, from 17 to 67. The chief added that there was also a 460% increase in assaults on ICE officers in that same time period, from five to 28.
The report included notations that public affairs was notified the same day as the shooting, though it didn’t release any statements at the time.
DHS reiterated statements that an agent logged the March 15 use-of-force report. It told SAN that agents were assisting the South Padre Island Police with traffic control following an accident when the driver of a blue Ford “intentionally ran over” an HSI agent. The agent was later treated for a knee injury at a local hospital.
The agent claimed in his report that the driver and passenger in the Ford appeared to be either intoxicated or impaired and were noncompliant with officers’ demands. Both occupants were U.S. citizens, according to the report.
South Padre police arrested the passenger. No court papers could be found verifying any charges lodged against Orta.
San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, a Democrat, requested Congress to conduct an investigation into the shooting after she felt probes by ICE or Texas law enforcement would be inefficient.
“In normal times, I would call upon the appropriate departments to investigate this matter,” she said in a statement shared on X. “However, we’re not in normal times, and it’s unclear any department-led investigations would be fairly executed, as evident by the delay in getting answers to this point. Therefore, our Congressional leaders must do their part in initiating an oversight investigation into the death of Ruben Ray Martinez.”
Orta’s statement conflicts with the feds
Orta told the Martinez family that the two traveled to South Padre Island in March 2025 for a spring break trip when they came in contact with law enforcement.
He said the two had a “few drinks” at a condo, hung out at a pool party and then made a trip to a Whataburger location before approaching the accident. He said a local police officer saw an open alcohol container in the back and told them to turn around and leave. That’s when an officer approached the vehicle, slapped the hood and tried to get in front of the vehicle.
Orta indicated in his statement that Martinez never intentionally struck an officer, but that the car was “crawling as we were trying to turn around” before an agent two feet away fired shots into Martinez’s window without “giving any warning, commands, or opportunity to comply.”
After being shot in the chest, Martinez told Orta “I’m sorry” before slumping over, the 25-year-old wrote.
“We believe Joshua’s account, and, as we have seen recently in Minneapolis, Chicago, and elsewhere, it is critical that the public be shown every piece of evidence in the government’s possession, and that any witness come forward,” Stamm said.