Sept 23, 20265:23 PM

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The year began with a news story that riveted the country, at least as much as any story can in our attention-fragmented era. The fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis sparked nationwide protests and outrage on Capitol Hill, and contributed to the decline in Donald Trump’s approval ratings. But the reaction to two additional spasms of violence involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week—a traffic stop that led to a deadly crash in Michigan and a shooting in Texas—has been much more muted, at least so far. The incidents raise the troubling possibility that the country is growing numb to injury and death at the hands of federal agents, even as the toll continues to mount.

What happened in Michigan?

Many details are still missing, but here’s what we know. On Sunday morning, ICE agents reportedly tried to pull over a driver in Grand Rapids named Mario David Coronado Juarez (his surname has been spelled “Suarez” in some media reports). According to police, Juarez, who is from Guatemala and has worked in construction and lived in Michigan for years, fled in his car before crashing into a tree. Juarez’s car caught fire and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

What happened in Texas?

A few hours after Juarez’s death, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was driving around Austin for DoorDash. A 28-year-old from Venezuela, Garces Perez says he entered the U.S. legally using a process the Biden administration created, applied for asylum, and got a work permit. But a change of address meant he missed a court summons, triggering a deportation order that ICE agents noticed. Garces Perez says the agents twice sideswiped his Toyota Corolla, causing damage, before their unmarked SUVs turned on their lights and sirens. After pulling Garces Perez over, an agent told him he was under arrest.

At this point, some details are disputed. Two sources told the New York Times that Garces Perez fled in his car, prompting a short chase. According to the Texas Tribune, Garces Perez asked if he could park somewhere sheltered from traffic. Video and audio analyzed by the Times captured an agent standing beside Garces Perez’s car and firing through the rear passenger window as it rolled forward. One bullet struck Garces Perez in the back. He remained in his car for several minutes before police showed up, ICE handcuffed him, and an ambulance arrived. Garces Perez says doctors couldn’t remove the bullet because it had lodged near his spine and ICE wanted to move him to a detention center, where he remains in custody. He allegedly slept on the cement floor of a cell and told reporters that he was “not doing well.”

Have there been other shootings?

Yes. In July, ICE agents fatally shot two other men: Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old father who was driving to work in Houston, and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old from Colombia, in Biddeford, Maine. The outcry that followed prompted the administration to announce that ICE would stop conducting almost all traffic stops nationwide.

But given what happened to Juarez and Garces Perez this week, what became of that policy?

Trump rescinded it almost immediately. He praised immigration agents for “doing a GREAT job” and called traffic stops “one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools.”

What’s the bigger context of these incidents?

Deaths tied to immigration enforcement have spiked. ICE agents and cars have turned out to be a particularly deadly combination: Five of the six fatal ICE shootings since Trump retook office involved traffic stops. The data we have is incomplete, but ICE may also be getting more trigger-happy. According to the Trace, a nonprofit newsroom focused on gun violence, armed agents have killed or injured 24 people since last year, compared to 47 between 2015 and 2021. The death rate in ICE detention facilities has also increased, with some detainees alleging inadequate medical care, severe overcrowding, and abusive treatment by guards. (The Trump administration denies those claims.)

Poor training appears to be the other major factor. As the Trump administration rushed to ramp up deportations, ICE slashed its training requirements and launched a recruiting blitz that sometimes resulted in sloppy vetting. The agent who shot Garces Perez joined ICE last year. So did the one who killed Durán Guerrero in Maine, and he also reportedly has a history of psychological issues and spousal abuse. The Washington Post reports that ICE has begun firing some recent recruits, citing “red flags that should have been identified earlier, or poor performance.”

Will ICE agents face accountability in these cases? 

That remains to be seen. DHS says it’s investigating the Garces Perez shooting, but the department has also disputed his version of events, including alleging that he nearly ran over an agent (this may sound familiar). The agent who shot Garces Perez had been instructed to wear a body camera but wasn’t, which could make even an impartial investigation harder. In several previous cases, including Good’s and Pretti’s, administration officials initially gave false accounts of what had happened. No agents have been charged in connection with either shooting, and Good’s and Pretti’s family members are still waiting for accountability. (In the separate case of a shooting that wounded another Minneapolis resident, one ICE agent faces federal charges for allegedly lying to the FBI about what happened. He has pleaded not guilty.) Meanwhile, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, has ordered state police to investigate the crash that killed Juarez on Sunday. And if Democrats retake Congress this fall, they could also launch investigations.

Similar things keep happening. Police in Evanston, Illinois, are reportedly investigating after ICE agents detained and injured a U.S. citizen on Sunday in an apparent case of mistaken identity. But in the meantime, such incidents risk becoming workaday stories that no longer inspire widespread outrage. On Monday, an immigrant rights group organized a protest in front of the Texas Capitol demanding Garces Perez’s release and accountability for the agent who shot him. About 250 people showed up, a turnout that at least one attendee called disappointing. “I think we haven’t shown the kind of resistance that we should be showing,” one of them told the Times.

That was a tough news day, but falling into an anxiety spiral or a doomscroll doesn’t help anything. My colleagues have curated some great stories to help you get refreshed and reenergized this evening.

A journey into the heart of Slate’s comments section: When Luke Winkie joined Slate as a staff writer in 2023, he was confronted with the site’s die-hard commenters: a group of “verbose, opinionated, more than a little cranky” readers who aren’t afraid to speak their minds. In honor of Slate’s 30th anniversary, Luke waded into the comments section and discovered tales of love, loss, and a vanishing form of online community.

An ode to imperfect fruit: Tangerines that are a breeze to peel. Tomatoes that are perfectly tangy. Sugary cantaloupes that don’t rot. Is this the future of fruit? Chason Gordon investigates the rise of produce bred for perfection, and argues that there are unintended consequences to making fruit too delicious.

A gritty throwback to print journalism: Danny Boyle’s new film, Ink, depicts Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of the Sun, turning it into the United Kingdom’s top tabloid paper. Sam Adams argues that while newspapers in real life are dying, this onscreen depiction thrums with life.

A dose of feminist wisdom: Weeks after Gloria Steinem’s death, her memoir has been posthumously published. Scaachi Koul writes that the book is a road map for “younger generations to keep up the good fight, to notice the wins where they happen, and to not get discouraged.”

And with that, it’s time for me to take my leave. Talk to you tomorrow!