Honduran man struck and killed by vehicle while fleeing US immigration officers

A 24-year-old Honduran man, identified as Josué Castro Rivera, was fatally struck by a vehicle on a Virginia highway while attempting to flee from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers last week.

The incident occurred on Thursday as Castro Rivera was heading to his gardening job. According to his brother, Henry Castro, ICE officers stopped the vehicle carrying Josué and three other passengers in a “targeted operation” and tried to detain them.

Castro Rivera fled on foot, running onto Interstate 264, where he was hit by a 2002 Ford pickup truck. He was pronounced dead at the scene around 11 a.m.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that ICE officers were conducting an “intelligence-based enforcement operation” and that the passengers were taken into custody for allegedly residing in the United States without legal documentation. The DHS added that Castro Rivera “resisted heavily and fled” before being struck.

Henry Castro described his late brother as kind-hearted and hardworking, saying Josué had lived in the United States for four years and regularly sent money home to support his family in Honduras. “He didn’t deserve everything that happened to him,” he said.

The family is now raising funds to repatriate Castro Rivera’s body to Honduras for burial, calling his death an “injustice.”

His death has drawn renewed attention to the dangers faced by undocumented immigrants during enforcement operations, following a series of similar fatal incidents involving ICE agents in recent months.