“We believe it is now imperative that the Texas Department of Public Safety publicly release the full results of its investigation, so that Robin’s family and the public can determine whether ICE’s story is accurate and why Robin was killed that night,” said attorneys at the law firm Thompson Stamm and Hayes Law. “We have sought this information, and we will continue to do so… Today’s event changes nothing.”
Lewis said in. Saenz, the Cameron County prosecutor, said in a statement that the grand jury declined to bring charges, while a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said the jury “unanimously found no crime.”
The decision was issued days after the other passenger in Martinez’s car, his friend Joshua Orta, was found killing In an unrelated car accident after the car he was driving left the road and struck a power pole at high speed.
Orta was planning to help Martinez’s mother, Rachel Reyes, in her legal battle and provided a written statement to her attorney saying that when he and Martinez encountered Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents conducting immigration enforcement with local police on March 15, 2025, the officers gave Martinez conflicting orders.
Contrary to HSI’s account, a police officer approached him and Martinez and asked them to leave the area, Orta wrote. Martinez tried to turn the car around and another officer approached them, slapped the hood of the car, and “appeared to be trying to get in front of the car,” according to his affidavit.
he books That Martinez’s car was “just crawling” during the encounter, when an officer on the driver’s side drew his weapon and fired without “giving any warning, command or opportunity to comply.”
Martinez “did not hit anyone,” Orta said in the statement.
Reyes said news agency Last week her son was shot three times.
Internal documents at HSI, an office within ICE, contradicted Orta’s account and said Martinez initially refused instructions to stop driving, then “accelerated forward” and struck the HSI agent “who ended up on the hood of the car.”
Another supervising HSI agent shot and killed Martinez, according to the documents.
Department of Homeland Security as well He said In a statement, an agent fired “defensive shots to protect himself, fellow agents, and the general public.”
Martinez’s death was reported in local media last March, but it was not publicly known that a federal agent had killed the young man until after the US watchdog group filed a public records request and released federal documents.
The family’s lawyers told… The Washington Post They expect to soon be able to view footage of the shooting from body cameras worn by South Padre Island police, who have declined to make public video evidence of the shooting because of a Texas Department of Public Safety investigation. This investigation will likely end due to the grand jury’s decision.
“Robin’s family is devastated,” the lawyers said. He said In a statement. “They are proud Americans, strong supporters of law enforcement, and Trump voters. They believe there are honest and decent officers out there. They just want to be treated honestly and decently.”
American Oversight also said it had filed Freedom of Information Act requests for police footage and internal communications in connection with the murder.
Reyes Express In a statement released Wednesday, she expressed hope that “the attention now being generated about Robin’s death will help bring him the justice we want and the answers we have not gotten.”
“Since Robin’s death a year ago, all we have wanted is justice for him, and we have struggled with the silence surrounding his killing,” she said. “Now, the country is in crisis, and terribly, heartbreakingly, other families are suffering from what we have.”
Martinez is one of at least four American citizens killed shot by federal immigration agents since President Donald Trump began his anti-immigration campaign shortly after taking office in January 2025.
On a running tracker, American Prospect He has counting At least 27 people were killed by federal immigration agents under the second Trump administration, including shootings, car crashes and drownings. According to ICE, at least 46 people have died in custody handle.
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