Almost a year after 23-year-old U.S. citizen Ruben Ray Martinez lost his life, a Texas lawmaker is pushing for a public hearing regarding the case. The incident earned renewed attention as it was recently revealed that Martinez was a victim of a fatal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shooting in March 2025.
The shooting happened on March 15, 2025, in South Padre Island, Texas, when the Martinez had just turned 23. While his death was previously reported, officials did not reveal that an ICE agent was involved until this week.
A San Antonio man was fatally shot by an immigration agent during a late-night traffic stop. The death of 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez actually happened last year, but was not publicly disclosed until yesterday.https://t.co/1t7G0QitxS pic.twitter.com/OiS7vR87d7
— News 4 San Antonio (@News4SA) February 23, 2026
Now, the case of Martinez’s fatal shooting has raised serious questions about transparency and oversight. State Rep. Ray Lopez, who serves as vice chair of the Texas House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety and Veterans’ Affairs, has decided to take action. Lopez said that he is using a new rule to schedule a public hearing.
According to him, this is the first time the rule has been used to force the committee’s Republican Chairman Cole Hefner to organize a hearing about Martinez’s death. Under this new rule, the committee chair must “promptly schedule” a hearing if requested by the vice chair. Lopez has asked for a written response by February 23.
Meanwhile, the case was reopened by Lopez after it was reported that ICE agents were involved in the shooting. This led Lopez to look into the internal ICE report from 2025, where officials redacted Martinez’s name but clearly stated how things unfolded.
It was revealed that agents from Homeland Security Investigations were helping South Padre Island police manage traffic after a major car accident. That’s when a blue Ford approached the area and refused to follow instructions from officers directing traffic. However, the car eventually slowed down and agents surrounded it.
Later when the driver was asked to get out of the car, the report said the Ford then accelerated forward and hit one of the ICE agents. This led the agents to fire multiple shots through the open side window, which struck the driver. Although he was given first aid at the scene and later taken to a hospital in Brownsville, the driver was pronounced dead.
There was also a passenger in the car, who was taken into custody by local police. Reports suggest that the driver and the passenger were both U.S. citizens. Later, a statement was released by the Department of Homeland Security, which said that the driver “intentionally ran over” a federal agent, which led other agents to fire shots in self-defense.
“[The driver] intentionally ran over a Homeland Security Investigation special agent resulting in him being on the hood of the vehicle. Upon witnessing this, another agent fired defensive shots to protect himself, his fellow agents and the general public,” the statement read.
An ICE agent shot and killed Ruben Ray Martinez, a US citizen and San Antonio resident, in March 2025. Then ICE and the Texas Department of Public Safety covered it up. He was 23 years old. I am calling for a full investigation into this shooting, including why there was an… https://t.co/ahtKSDtvz7
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) February 20, 2026
As ICE was not mentioned in the statement or the report, which instead referred to the ones involved as federal agents, Lopez asked why ICE’s role in the shooting was not made public for almost a year. If things were done in self-defense, Lopez questioned why the documents refused to reveal ICE’s involvement or presence.
“When anyone in authority at any level of policing, federal, state or local, decides to take the most drastic measure and that’s ending someone’s life, you need to be sure that you’re doing it as a last resort,” Lopez told CBS News. He said, “I don’t feel that the information that I’ve read implies to me that it was a last resort and I want to get to the bottom of it”.
Martinez’s mother Rachel Reyes said that her family has been searching for answers since her son’s death, and Lopez’s determination to get to the bottom of it has renewed their hope.
