A man running from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents died Tuesday when a tractor-trailer hit him on State Road 16 in St. Augustine. Agents from ICE and Homeland Security Investigations stopped the 28-year-old man and three others just after 6:30 a.m. near the Wawa gas station east of Interstate 95, Highway Patrol Sgt. Dylan Bryan said.
All four people bolted, and one was hit and killed. The death came during a period of increasing scrutiny over ICE enforcement actions across the country. Agents on Monday shot and killed a man in his car in Biddeford, Maine. Last week, an ICE agent shot and killed a Mexican immigrant during a traffic stop in Houston.
Reaction to the Incident
Jonathan Gonzalo Kleinick, co-founder of the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance, lamented an increase in ICE activities locally and nationwide. State Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat, condemned the actions of ICE agents, saying the tragedy is a direct result of an out-of-control agency terrorizing communities.
The Trump administration has ordered a halt to most ICE traffic stops after the two deaths, according to the New York Times. The Highway Patrol is investigating the traffic death, but no other information was released, including how the four people had come into contact with ICE.
Original reporting: Jacksonville Today — read the source article.
