A Honduran man was struck and killed by a vehicle last week, and his tragic death has sparked outrage on social media. The 24-year-old was attempting to flee Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Virginia when the incident occurred.
The young man, identified as Josué Castro Rivera, was on his way to a gardening job on Thursday when the officers pulled over his vehicle. The officers then tried to detain him and three other passengers, according to his brother, Henry Castro.
At that moment, Castro Rivera tried to flee the scene and attempted to cross Interstate 264 in Norfolk. While he was running away, a 2002 Ford pickup fatally struck him, according to state and federal authorities. The Virginia State Police pronounced him dead on the scene around 11 a.m.
This is the homie that died trying to escape ICE yesterday on 264, in Norfolk. He was 24 yrs old…. may those responsible, know the pain his family feels. Rest easy, nephew. pic.twitter.com/5qcJ1BtDwc
— Feisty toxic megloaf pengo (@megchl543) October 26, 2025
His devastated brother said Sunday, “He had a very good heart.” Castro Rivera had been staying in the U.S. for more than four years and was sending back money to his family in Honduras, remarked Henry.
For quite some time now, the officers have been carrying out a “targeted, intelligence-based” operation. The objective of the operation was to detain passengers for allegedly living in the country without legal permission, as per the Department of Homeland Security’s statement. Castro Rivera “resisted heavily and fled” and died after a passing vehicle hit him, the DHS said. “He didn’t deserve everything that happened to him,” his heartbroken brother said.
Castro Rivera’s family feels his death is an ‘injustice’ to him and plans to raise money to send his body back to Honduras for a funeral. The DHS stated that the worker’s death was “a direct result of misinformation about ICE’s mission and how to avoid detention.
This, however, isn’t the first time such a tragic incident has taken place due to the department’s interference. Similar deaths during immigration operations have sparked outrage, and people have demanded investigations. Last month, federal immigration agents brutally shot a Mexican man in a traffic stop in a Chicago suburb.
To de-escalate the situation, the DHS initially said a federal cop was “seriously injured.” However, the police body camera video showed the officer walking perfectly fine, and he described his injuries as “nothing major.”
In fact, in July, a farmworker died after falling from a 30-foot-high roof. The incident also occurred during a chaotic immigration raid at a California marijuana farm. In August, a man running away from federal agents met with the same fate and was fatally struck by a vehicle.
