Houston ICE operation: County judge, advocates say man injured is treated unfairly

All right, so our top story here this half hour, and this is a story we've been following now for quite some time. You may remember earlier this week, we told you about the ICE agent who turned himself in after he was indicted and then charged with a felony charge, excuse me, for hitting a man with his vehicle, right? So now we're hearing from county leaders who say that the injured man, Miguel Pardo Hernandez, isn't being treated fairly. So that's quite the allegation there to make. So McKenna Earnhardt joining us now to give us the ins and outs of what happened there. What's going on? Yeah, so, Here's where things stand today. It feels like every day there's kind of a new development here right now. So county judge Lena Hidalgo and local immigrant advocates, they held a press conference this morning. Their big message is that Miguel Parra Hernandez needs to be released immediately. That's what they're saying. And if you don't recall the crash itself, it happened back on October 10th near Clay Road and Highway 6. That ICE agent Mario Morales surrendered on aggravated assault charges just a few days ago. His attorney has maintained all along that this was just an unfortunate While dodging traffic during a chase. But today, Judge Hidalgo and Parra's lawyer, Kim Bruno, said his current living conditions while under guard are completely unacceptable. According to Hidalgo, Parra broke his leg in three places and shattered his ankle. But she says armed guards, both ICE and private security, have been hovering over him constantly at Memorial Hermann and now at a facility on West Orem Drive. His attorney claims she hasn't even been allowed to speak with him or have him sign papers. And his family says they've been turned away just trying to bring him a home-cooked meal. Judge Hidalgo argued this morning that because Parra is a key victim and witness in the state's case against the agent, he shouldn't be treated like this. The bottom line is Mr. Parra was injured at the hands of a federal agent. It's caught on tape. There's an official indictment. He's being treated as a criminal. Worse than that, he needs immediate access to legal counsel. He needs immediate access to family visitation. He needs immediate access to mental health care. And he needs immediate freedom. Thank you. He needs proper health care to be able to recover properly and so that. Everybody can get to the bottom of this legal situation, so ICE can be held accountable. Now, we did reach out to ICE to see their response on these latest claims. In the past statements on this case, the agency pushed back hard, calling the whole situation a political stunt by local leaders. Parr is slated to head back to Memorial Hermann for another procedure early next week, and his legal team says they'll keep pushing for his release before then. Anthony. All right, of course, we'll be following that because there's more to come. All right, McKenna, thank you so much.