'He took my son's life for nothing,' says mother of man killed by immigration agent

A year ago this week, Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, was shot and killed

by an ICE agent in Texas.

But it was not until this past February, 11 months after the shooting that ICE confirmed

its involvement.

It's now become the first publicly-known instance of ICE fatally shooting a U.S. citizen as part

of President Trump's immigration crackdown.

While the Department of Homeland Security says Martinez intentionally ramped his vehicle

into an agent, recently released body cam footage, which shows shots being fired into

Martinez' vehicle, calls that narrative into question.

And one year later, Martinez' family is still searching for answers.

We're joined now by Ruben Martinez' mother, Rachel Reyes, and her attorney, Charles

Stam.

Thank you both for being with us.

Rachel, we'll start with you.

It's been a year since you lost your son.

Tell us about it.

What was he like?

And when you think of him now, what most stands out?

His presence.

He was so funny and humble, and the light of our house, he was always very laid back and

just a really good kid.

He was trying to figure things out.

Yeah, he was, I can't even any.

He's dearly missed.

I'm sorry.

I'm so emotional.

Well, take us back to that day.

How did you first learn that your son had been killed in the early hours?

What were you told had happened?

So an official came to my home and told me that my son had passed away, and the way

he described the incident was that he got, there was an accident ahead of them, it's still

down the traffic, and then the Ruben was going so slow that an officer saw a container

in the vehicle, but he told him he was in the limbo anyway, so he let him go forward.

And then the other officer yelled for him to not go, well, he told me that what happened

was he got tapped, he might, his son was going forward and tapped an officer, and that

that's why they shot him, just for that reason, and I just couldn't understand this and

the day one never made any sense to me.

Well, tell me more about that.

What point did you start to feel like you weren't getting the full story?

That same day, it just didn't make any sense to me because he wouldn't, I don't understand

why they had to do that because I know my son wouldn't use his vehicle as a weapon and

it just didn't make any sense at all, and I knew something was not right, it just never

made any sense since day one.

Charles, I want to bring you in and ask you to respond to this statement we received

from DHS.

They say, quote, we stand by the grand jury's unanimous decision that found no criminality.

The incident was investigated from every possible angle by an independent body and it cleared

our officer.

You've now reviewed the body camera footage released by the Texas Department of Public

Safety.

What does that video show and to what extent does it call into question the government's

account?

I think it calls it completely into question, you know, nothing we saw on any of the

video suggested that Ruben posed a threat to members of the public, to law enforcement,

to anyone, period.

If you look at the video right before the fatal shots were fired, Ruben yielded at

a crosswalk to allow several young ladies to pass.

I mean, it's no laughing matter, bluntly, people who are using their vehicles as weapons,

people who are looking to commit acts of terror, they don't yield to people to cross the

street.

All right.

And although there are gaps in the video, although there are periods of the video that

are difficult to make out, there is nothing that we've seen on the video that remotely

justifies the use of force against Ruben.

Well, what do you believe happened in those final moments based on your own investigation?

Well, we believe that Ruben entered a confusing scene.

It was a scene that a lot of other drivers had difficulty navigating.

You know, it wasn't clear to me in viewing the body camera, whether the cops were indicating

that there was a lane closed or an entire roadway that was closed.

So a lot of people besides Ruben got confused and may have tried to enter too far.

So we start with a problematic scene and omissions in terms of traffic safety.

And that's really what this is.

This is South Padre spring break.

There's nothing political about this.

There's nothing to do with immigration operations.

It's really what happens when you bring highly militarized federal police and federal officials

into do every day basic police work.

And Rachel, the mention of spring break, your son was there celebrating his birthdays,

that right?

All right.

Yes, he was.

Charles, it took nearly a year for ICE to publicly acknowledge its role in all of this.

What do you think accounts for that delay?

You know, I would hate to speculate without any basis in reality.

But what I can tell you is that it's concerning to us.

These demands complete accountability, complete transparency.

Sunshine must be allowed to enter the process.

You know, you mentioned earlier that a grand jury investigation, no, no, no, a grand jury

process is first of all confidential.

So, you know, we shouldn't even be talking about those deliberations.

But the fact that this was even given to a grand jury, that's about assessing criminal

charges against some of these officers.

That's not what, you know, that's not what's called for in a civil investigation, which

involves law enforcement or the US attorney's office or the DOJ or whoever to actually conduct

a thorough investigation to determine the root cause of this incident in a manner that

is not politicized.

And Charles, there was a key witness, Joshua Orta, who was in the car.

He disputed the government's account.

Mr. Orta later died in a car crash.

What did he say happened that night?

Mr. Orta gave my law firm a statement that largely corroborates what we saw in the

video.

Mr. Orta was also subject to interrogation by law enforcement and the wake of this incident

before his tragic death.

And what I can tell you is that Mr. Orta was adamant.

Rubin may have been confused or frightened.

He would never, ever, ever try to strike or hit or let a little run over a law enforcement

officer.

So I think that Josh's statements across all of them emphasized that Rubin did not pose

a threat.

Rachel, what is your family asking for now that you still have not received?

Notability.

Before we were searching for answers, and now that we've seen the video, now we want

justice and accountability, because based on the video, Rubin was not a threat that night.

He was the only one trying to de-escalate.

He had his foot on the brake and Jack Stevens, compulsively and aggressively took his life

for no reason.

So my son died based off of, I think everyone involved in that scene is somehow responsible

because of the commotion that chaos and the conflicting commands.

And I think everyone played a part in this chaos that should have been a routine traffic

encounter that turned into a tragic event for nothing.

So he took my son's life for nothing.

So I wouldn't want justice for that.

Accountability, justice, what does that look like?

My son's death certificate says homicide, so whatever would be appropriate for that would

have been just, but since the grand jury failed us, now we're going to have to look at other

options, whatever that may be.

I just, it's definitely something news to change.

They can't keep doing this if people, he took my son's life and then DHS protects him

with their misrepresentation of my son.

And that's another harm caused by them.

And it's just awful, this whole situation is wrong, it should have never happened.

May I ask how you're holding up in this moment?

How are you doing?

It's been hard.

I'm incredibly overwhelming, it's hard, it's been really hard just the dealing with everything

and then it seems like it keeps adding on and combining like the more harm they call it,

it's just, it's been rough for all of us.

Yeah, well I certainly wish you peace and my condolences on the loss of your son.

Rachel Reyes, Charles Stammer, thanks to you both.

Thank you Jeff.

Thank you.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.