Salvadoran man hospitalized with spinal injuries after ICE pursuit crash
Óscar José Araujo-Mejía, a 21-year-old from El Salvador who had lived in the U.S. for four years and worked at McDonald's, was hospitalized after a car crash that occurred during a pursuit by ICE agents in unmarked vehicles. A relative, who witnessed the incident, said Araujo-Mejía was chased through traffic, rammed by an unmarked truck, and beaten by agents who knelt on his back and neck while pulling him from his car; ICE said officers used no force and that Araujo-Mejía nearly struck an agent before crashing. He suffered 29 stitches for a head wound and multiple broken vertebrae in his neck, and was later listed in fair condition at a Maryland trauma center, where hospital policy has prevented his family from visiting him. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore criticized ICE's enforcement tactics in the state following the incident.
