NEW YORK (AP) — A man fleeing federal agents in Florida was struck and killed by a tractor trailer, marking at least the 10th death involving encounters with immigration officers since the start of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
The man, a 28-year-old Mexican national whose name wasn't immediately released, was sitting in a vehicle with three other people outside a gas station near St. Augustine on Tuesday when they were approached
by Immigration and Customs Enforcements officers, officials said. The man then darted across the busy thoroughfare and into the path of a semitrailer, according to a highway patrol spokesperson.
The deadly encounter came a day after an ICE officer fatally shot a motorist in Maine and a week after one shot and killed a driver in Houston, officials said.
The deaths have stirred renewed criticism of the agency’s tactics.
On Wednesday, Trump said ICE agents should continue making traffic stops, pushing back on reports that most stops would be suspended.
As news of the Florida death spread, immigration authorities were already facing questions about the fatal shooting Monday of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine.
Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombia native, was fatally shot in his car by an ICE officer after officials said he left an address that immigration authorities had been surveilling. In a social media post, the Department of Homeland Security said he had "attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon."
The brief description differed from one provided hours earlier by Maine Sen. Angus King, who said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin's told him that the driver had “weaponized” his vehicle against the ICE officers.
DHS officials said in a statement that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, ignored commands while trying to evade arrest during an enforcement operation on July 7. The department said he attempted to ram his car into an agent, who opened fire in self-defense.
Araujo's family said he was on his way to work at a construction job. He died on the way to the hospital.
The shooting drew immediate criticism from immigrant rights groups and some Democrats, who called for an independent investigation.
Video footage in several previous shootings has contradicted the accounts of federal officers. No immigration officers have been charged in those fatal encounters.
A Border Patrol officer shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, during a Jan. 24 protest against the Metro Surge immigration operation in Minneapolis.
Federal authorities immediately described Pretti, a U.S. citizen, as an armed agitator who was a threat to officers. But bystander video showed that Pretti was on the ground and had been holding a cellphone during the interaction with officers.
The video showed an officer appearing to pull a gun from Pretti's waistband and step away before the first shot was fired by another officer, followed by more shots. Pretti had a permit to possess a firearm.
State and local officials pushed back against the federal officials' initial characterizations of Pretti, with Gov. Tim Walz calling the comments “despicable.”
Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, was repeatedly shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Videos show she was turning the wheels of her car away from officer Jonathan Ross when he opened fire. Trump administration officials have repeatedly defended Ross, claiming his life was at risk from the moving vehicle.
Good’s death caused a firestorm across the country. The Justice Department said it wouldn’t share information on the shooting with state authorities. But federal prosecutors later shared some key evidence.
State and local officials sued to try to stop to try to stop the immigration sweeps. Protesters with whistles trailed officers who, in response, deployed tear gas and other chemical irritants.
A pickup truck fatally struck Josué Castro Rivera on a highway in Norfolk, Virginia, as he tried to escape authorities during a traffic stop on Oct. 23.
Castro Rivera, 24, of Honduras, was heading to a gardening job with three passengers when ICE officers pulled over the vehicle, according to his brother, Henry Castro.
State and federal authorities said Castro Rivera ran away on foot and was hit by a pickup truck on Interstate 264.
ICE agents fatally shot Silverio Villegas González during a traffic stop Sept. 12 in suburban Chicago. Relatives said the 38-year-old line cook from Mexico had dropped off a child at daycare that morning.
At the time, DHS officials said agents were pursuing a man with a history of reckless driving who was in the country illegally. They alleged Villegas González evaded arrest and dragged an officer with his vehicle.
Homeland Security said the officer opened fire fearing for his life and was hospitalized with “serious injuries.” However, local police videos showed the agent walking around and dismissing his injuries as “nothing major.”
DHS has said the death remains under investigation.
A man fleeing from immigration officers outside a Home Depot in Southern California died after being hit by an SUV as he tried to cross a freeway on Aug. 14.
Police in Monrovia, northeast of Los Angeles, said ICE agents were conducting enforcement operations when the man was hit while running across the eastbound lanes of Interstate 210.
The man, identified by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network as Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, 52, of Guatemala, died at a hospital.
Homeland Security said Montoya Valdez wasn’t being pursued by immigration authorities when he ran.
Authorities were arresting dozens of farmworkers July 10, 2025, at Glass House Farms in Southern California when Jaime Alanis fell from the roof of a greenhouse and broke his neck. The 57-year-old laborer from Mexico died at a hospital two days later.
Relatives said Alanis had spent a decade working at the farm in Camarillo, about an hour east of LosAngeles. Officials said he fell about 30 feet (9 meters).
Homeland Security said Alanis was never in custody and was not being chased by immigration authorities.
Homeland Security said Castro Rivera’s vehicle was stopped as part of a “targeted, intelligence-based” operation and that Castro Rivera had “resisted heavily and fled.”
A fatal late-night traffic stop in Texas in March 2025 marked the earliest deadly shooting by federal officers during the nationwide immigration crackdown. It took almost a year for records to be disclosed in the fatal shooting of Ruben Ray Martinez, who was a 23-year-old U.S. citizen.
A Homeland Security Investigations team was conducting an immigration enforcement operation with local police when agents stopped Martinez on his way from San Antonio to South Padre Island.
DHS officials said Martinez was told to exit the vehicle, refused and instead “intentionally ran over” an officer. Another officer fired shots through the open driver’s window, striking Martinez, who died at a hospital.
Martinez’s mother said she was contacted by investigators with the Texas Rangers who told her there was video that contradicted the account given by federal officers. Federal and state authorities have declined to comment on potential discrepancies.
