NYT reporter explains records behind questions about ICE target photo in Houston operation
New York Times reporter speaks on Houston ICE report
According to the New York Times, the daughter of the suspect who was wanted in last weekend's Houston ICE operation says he died almost a decade ago. FOX 26's Karys Belger spoke to the journalist behind that report as we wait for federal officials to address the claim.
HOUSTON - A New York Times reporter whose work raised questions about the photograph ICE released after a Houston-area enforcement operation told FOX 26 her team reviewed multiple documents to corroborate a family’s account that the pictured man died nearly a decade ago.
In an interview Friday, Jazmine Ulloa described the reporting behind her story about Jamie Jimenez, a Dallas woman who identified the man in the photograph as her father, Jose Hector Jimenez Mendoza.
ICE identified its intended target as Jose Mendoza-Cervantes. Jimenez told the Times that her father used aliases, including that name.
The photograph was released following the Oct. 10 operation in northwest Harris County that left Miguel Parra-Hernandez hospitalized after an immigration agent struck him with an SUV.
FOX 26 has not independently verified the identification of the man in the photograph or the reported alias connection.
Ulloa, a national reporter for the Times, is also the author of El Paso, a book examining the history of the Texas border city through stories of migration, race and power. PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
What we know:
The incident occurred near Clay Road and Highway 6. According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, two men left a truck and fled on foot. One escaped, while Parra-Hernandez was struck by an ICE vehicle.
Surveillance footage captured the SUV striking Parra-Hernandez as he ran through a parking lot. He was hospitalized and underwent surgery for a broken leg.
ICE said agents were attempting to arrest Mendoza-Cervantes, whom the agency described as having a final removal order and prior arrests.
Parra-Hernandez’s attorney, Kim Bruno, has said her client does not know Mendoza-Cervantes and that the wanted man was not in the truck with him.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office and sheriff’s office are investigating the incident. DHS separately confirmed to FOX 26 that the agent is on leave during an active internal investigation.
What The Times Examined:
Ulloa said Jimenez recognized her father in the photograph DHS released and initially contacted FIEL, the immigrant rights organization assisting Parra-Hernandez’s family.
Jimenez later contacted Ulloa.
"She wanted to come forward and clear his name," Ulloa said.
Ulloa said the Times sought multiple sources of evidence to corroborate Jimenez’s account. The materials included family photographs, a Mexican death certificate recording Jimenez Mendoza’s death in Laredo in October 2017, and Jimenez’s own birth certificate identifying her father.
"We wanted to compile as much evidence corroborating her account as we could," Ulloa said.
Houston ICE crash: New York Times reports suspect died years ago
FOX 26 has been working to confirm the New York Times report that the man wanted in last weekend's Houston-area ICE operation had died nearly a decade ago. Reporter Karys Belger spoke to NYT reporter Jazmine Ulloa about her interview with the man's daughter, what she could piece together for the report, and the questions she's waiting on DHS to answer.
Jimenez told the Times her father died during a separate immigration pursuit near the southern border. That account of the circumstances of his death remains attributed to the family.
Ulloa said her team also searched court records and found a criminal history consistent with the charges ICE attributed to its intended target.
"We also did many court record searches, compiled documents showing that the charges that ICE attributed to the men that they were targeting matched those of Mr. Jimenez Mendoza," Ulloa said.
She said those records included driving-under-the-influence and unlawful-possession-of-a-weapon charges.
What Records Establish:
Asked whether the court records appeared under Jimenez Mendoza’s given name or the name ICE released, Ulloa said her team found records under his given name.
"Yeah, we saw the name, his given name," she said.
Ulloa also acknowledged the difficulty of searching a common name, saying multiple people in Texas have variations of the name released by ICE.
She said Jimenez provided additional information that helped the Times distinguish her father’s records from those of other people.
The distinction matters: the court records Ulloa described were under Jose Hector Jimenez Mendoza’s given name. The connection to Jose Mendoza-Cervantes came from his daughter’s account of his aliases.
In the interview, Ulloa did not identify a court record independently establishing that alias connection.
Questions also remain about whether ICE distributed an incorrect photograph, confused identities or had another explanation for the discrepancy.
Ulloa said the Times asked federal officials whether an error occurred, whether someone else could have assumed the deceased man’s identity and how agents identified their target.
She said the agency had not answered those specific questions as of the interview.
What they're saying:
DHS confirmed to FOX 26 that the agent involved in the incident is on leave. The agency said the action is standard practice and does not establish wrongdoing.
A DHS spokesperson provided the following statement:
The statement did not address the photograph, Jimenez’s identification of her father or the reported death certificate.
FOX 26 asked DHS whether the photograph accurately depicts its intended target and what evidence led agents to identify someone in Parra-Hernandez’s truck as that person.
FOX 26 also asked what supports the agency’s conclusion about intent while its internal investigation remains active.
What the family told Ulloa
Ulloa said seeing the photograph circulated as an image of a wanted man was painful for Jimenez and her relatives.
Jimenez described her father as a pool plumber who had built a life in Dallas and encouraged her to attend college, Ulloa said.
The two had become estranged before his death, but Jimenez had been considering inviting him to her college graduation as a way to reconnect.
He died before she had that opportunity, Ulloa said.
Jimenez and other relatives felt compelled to speak because they believed the public was receiving an incomplete and inaccurate picture of him.
"They wanted to give a fuller picture of who he was and his life," Ulloa said.
What's next:
The local and federal investigations into the incident remain ongoing.
Identifying the man in the photograph and establishing whom agents actually encountered are separate questions. The family’s account and the documents described by Ulloa raise questions that federal officials have not addressed in their response to FOX 26.
Ulloa said Jimenez’s family is seeking answers about both the circumstances of her father’s death and why his photograph is now connected to the Houston operation.
"She still has so many questions about the day her father died under pursuit of immigration authorities," Ulloa said, "and now she has even more questions about why he’s being linked to this new incident."
The Source: FOX 26’s Karys Belger interviewed New York Times reporter Jazmine Ulloa. This report also includes a statement provided directly to FOX 26 by DHS, previous FOX 26 reporting and the Times’ published account. FOX 26 has not independently verified the family’s identification of the man in ICE’s photograph or the reported alias connection.