Key facts
- A Guatemalan national, Mario David Coronado Juarez, died Sunday in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after his vehicle crashed and caught fire during an ICE traffic stop.
- Governor Gretchen Whitmer has ordered a review of the incident.
- Michigan State Police have been asked to join the investigation.
- Congresswoman Hillary Scholten is seeking an explanation from ICE regarding the agents' actions.
- Two other ICE-related incidents occurred the same day, one involving a shooting and another a mistaken identity arrest.
Leading Democrats and immigration advocates in Michigan are demanding transparency from federal authorities after a man died in a fiery car crash as he attempted to avoid agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Mario David Coronado Juarez, a Guatemalan national, was killed Sunday in Grand Rapids when his vehicle struck a tree at high speed and burst into flames shortly after ICE officers tried to conduct a traffic stop. His death occurred on the same day as two other incidents involving ICE agents: one in Austin, Texas, where an agent shot and wounded a Venezuelan man, and another in Evanston, Illinois, where a US citizen was injured in an apparent mistaken identity arrest.
According to a Washington Post analysis in July, at least 17 motorists had been shot by federal immigration agents during enforcement operations, with six fatalities.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced she has ordered a review of the Grand Rapids incident. Grand Rapids Police Chief Joseph Trigg requested that the Michigan State Police join the investigation, stating that his department's traffic detectives had been "limited in their ability" to obtain information from federal agencies. Trigg noted that the state police "may be in a better position to determine the timeframe and any other potentially relevant circumstances, and any next steps that may be appropriate."
Coronado Juarez, 36, was from San Marcos, Guatemala, and worked as a construction worker to send money to his wife and three children. Democratic Michigan Congresswoman Hillary Scholten stated that "no traffic stop should end with a fatality" and requested "a transparent investigation into facts we don’t yet know."
ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), have not yet issued a comment on the incident.