A person who ran away from federal immigration agents in St. Augustine, Florida, early Tuesday was struck and killed by a tractor trailer, according to the Florida Highway Patrol, as the Department of Homeland Security faces increased scrutiny over its tactics.
The incident occurred around 6:40 a.m. during an encounter with Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the highway patrol said in a statement.
Four occupants of a vehicle ran away and one ran across State Road 16 and “into the path of the tractor trailer,” Sgt. Dylan Bryan told CNN.
While the driver stopped and tried to render aid, the person died at the scene, Bryan said.
Person fleeing ICE agents in Florida fatally struck by vehicle, officials say
The incident comes after other high-profile deaths involving ICE this past week.
Monday, 26-year-old Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero from Colombia was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Biddeford, Maine.
A week earlier, on July 7, Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Houston.
Neither was the target of an immigration enforcemnt operation, officials said.
In the Florida incident Tuesday, The Associated Press reported the person who died is a man.
His immigration status and nationality are unknown, and the reason for the encounter with federal agents is not yet clear.
The highway patrol is investigating the incident, and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office helped with traffic control.
In a statement to CNN, the Department of Homeland Security said agents were conducting an operation that resulted in the death of a Mexican national. HSI is conducting an investigation alongside the highway patrol, the statement added.
Tuesday’s crash is also not the first time a person has died while fleeing immigration enforcement.
Last August, a Guatemalan man running from an immigration raid in Los Angeles died after being struck by an SUV on a freeway. In October, a Honduran man was fatally struck by a vehicle on a Virginia highway while fleeing immigration agents, The Associated Press reported. In February, a teacher was killed near her school after a man fleeing ICE crashed a car into hers.
In a post on X, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon called Tuesday’s fatal crash a “tragedy” and said it’s a result of “an out-of-control agency terrorizing our communities and our state.”
It’s “perfectly understandable” for a person to want to run upon encountering ICE agents, Adriana Rivera, a spokesperson for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said in a statement.
“When federal agents descend on communities and initiate encounters that spark panic and fear, people run,” the statement read. “In the United States, in 2026, whether someone runs or complies with ICE, death is a very real possible outcome.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
