Man who died in Michigan crash after ICE stop wasn't officers' target - USA Today
A Guatemalan immigrant who died in a fiery crash after fleeing an attempted traffic stop by immigration officers in Michigan was not the person they were looking for, the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday.
Mario David Coronado Juárez, a 35-year-old father, was killed Sept. 20 in Grand Rapids when the vehicle he was driving struck a tree at high speed and burst into flames shortly after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers tried to stop him.
According to a DHS spokesperson, the car was registered to a different person "with multiple alcohol related driving offenses who is also wanted in Guatemala for a drunk and disorderly charge." That was the person ICE had originally sought to detain. Officers attempted to stop the vehicle to determine who was driving, but Coronado Juárez sped away, the department said.
The department said its officers immediately abandoned the attempted stop "in the interest of public safety" and encountered the burning vehicle about half a mile away. The officers tried to extinguish the fire and render aid until local emergency crews arrived, according to DHS.
Officials estimated that the vehicle was traveling at more than 100 mph before the crash, DHS said. Coronado Juárez, the only person in the car, was pronounced dead at the scene by local officials. According to DHS, Coronado Juárez was in the country without authorization and had been removed from the United States by Border Patrol in 2021.
"Resisting officers and evading arrest is dangerous for our officers, illegal aliens, and the public," the spokesperson wrote in the statement.
The death comes amid mounting scrutiny of ICE’s use of traffic stops and other enforcement tactics. On the same day Coronado Juárez died, an ICE officer shot and wounded a Venezuelan DoorDash driver during a traffic stop in Austin, Texas. In Evanston, Illinois, federal agents injured a U.S. citizen while attempting to detain him after mistaking him for a fugitive.
In July, ICE temporarily suspended most vehicle stops after officers fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine within six days of each other. Neither man was the target of the operation that led to his death. But President Donald Trump ordered the agency to resume the stops the following day, calling them one of ICE’s most effective enforcement tools.
Traffic stops have become an increasingly visible part of ICE’s enforcement campaign, which has driven arrests to record levels. The agency made nearly 51,000 arrests in August, the third consecutive monthly record, according to federal data obtained by the Deportation Data Project.
The rise in street arrests has coincided with the agency more than doubling its workforce, while White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller previously said the agency had a minimum goal of 3,000 arrests per day.
Coronado Juárez’s death has prompted Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, to order an independent state review.
"Given the circumstances of this incident, the Governor has directed the Michigan State Police to conduct an independent review of the law enforcement actions surrounding this situation in coordination with the Grand Rapids Police Department's investigation," spokesperson Kaylie Hanson told the Detroit Free Press, which is part of the USA TODAY Network.
Grand Rapids police had no advance knowledge of or involvement in the ICE operation, officials said. Police Chief Joseph Trigg requested assistance from state police, saying local investigators had been limited in their ability to obtain information from federal agents about what happened before the crash.
Movimiento Cosecha, an immigrant advocacy group in Grand Rapids, said Coronado Juárez was from San Marcos, Guatemala. He had come to the United States alone and worked in construction, sending money home to his wife and three young children, the group said.
“Mario deserves to be remembered not only for the way he died, but for the life he lived: a father, a husband, a brother, and a person deeply loved by his family and his community,” the group said.
U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Michigan, whose district includes Grand Rapids, sent a letter to acting ICE Director David Venturella demanding an explanation of the agents’ conduct and a transparent investigation.
“No traffic stop should end with a fatality,” Scholten said. “Something went wrong, and we need to know what and how.”
