The federal prosecutor confronted the jury, brandishing the merchandise he stated had been “used as a sword” to assault a federal officer throughout a July protest in downtown Los Angeles.
The article that Assistant U.S. Atty. Patrick Kibbe stated was wielded as a weapon: An umbrella that an investigator wanted a particular scale to weigh as a result of it was lower than one pound.
For months, Trump administration officers have cited violence in opposition to federal regulation enforcement officers finishing up the president’s deportation marketing campaign as justification for aggressive ways, together with threats to deploy the Nationwide Guard and U.S. Marines. The Division of Homeland Safety has touted a staggering determine, claiming a 1,000% improve in assaults in opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers.
However a Instances evaluation of courtroom information associated to assaults on federal regulation enforcement in Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, Ore., Chicago and Washington, D.C., reveals nearly all of the alleged assaults resulted in no damage to an agent. In roughly 42% of the circumstances The Instances reviewed, federal regulation enforcement officers have been both shoved, spat on or flailed at, or had water bottles thrown at them, in accordance with courtroom affidavits.
In the course of the umbrella assault trial in October, prosecutors offered no proof of any accidents. In L.A. and throughout the nation, defendants accused of assaulting federal officers have gained acquittals or had fees dropped. Greater than a 3rd of the circumstances The Instances analyzed resulted in dismissals or acquittals, in some situations as a result of the defendants have been deported. No circumstances have resulted in a conviction at trial.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Division of Homeland Safety, responded to questions from The Instances concerning the assault numbers with an announcement that stated “our officers are dealing with terrorist assaults, being shot at, having vehicles getting used as weapons in opposition to them, bomb threats, assaults, doxxing.”
McLaughlin highlighted a case wherein she stated an ICE officer wanted 13 stitches and suffered burns after he was overwhelmed with a steel espresso cup by an undocumented immigrant in Houston final month. In one other that she flagged, an alleged gang member in Nebraska brutally beat an ICE agent in June, leaving them hospitalized with critical head accidents.
Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, responded to questions from The Instances with an announcement that stated “our officers are dealing with terrorist assaults, being shot at, having vehicles getting used as weapons in opposition to them, bomb threats, assaults, doxxing.”
(Jose Luis Magana / Related Press)
President Trump invoked the 1,000% improve determine in a memo directing federal regulation enforcement teams to analyze “home terrorism,” and federal officers have cited the quantity repeatedly to justify aggressive ways in opposition to protesters and the necessity for brokers to put on masks to keep away from being recognized.
Homeland Safety officers ignored a number of requests to launch an entire checklist of alleged assaults. In late November, the company introduced a 1,153% improve in assaults on ICE brokers from Jan. 21 to Nov. 21, with 238 reported assaults this 12 months in comparison with 19 in the identical timeframe in 2024.
The 5 jurisdictions The Instances analyzed have been the federal districts the place the Trump administration has carried out large-scale regulation enforcement and immigration operations or threatened to deploy the navy due to the supposed hazard confronted by federal brokers. In these areas, 163 circumstances of assault of a federal officer had been filed between Jan. 21 and Nov. 21. That’s up from 129 in the identical areas and timeframe in 2024, a rise of 26%. An NPR evaluation got here up with an identical determine earlier this 12 months.
The 2024 information can be inflated by the submitting of assault fees by prosecutors in Washington in opposition to rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has pardoned all of these defendants.
The Instances evaluation captured assaults in opposition to all varieties of federal officers. ICE or Border Patrol brokers have been described as victims in about 60% of these circumstances.
David Bier, director of immigration research on the Cato Institute, a libertarian assume tank, stated the federal government is counting on the surprising percentages, with out correct context, to advance a story.
“They’re justifying why they should use excessive drive in opposition to the individuals they’re arresting and the general public as they work together with people on the road,” he stated. “I believe that’s the first objective, to say: ‘We’re below assault. We’re being assaulted day by day and subsequently we’d like to have the ability to use excessive drive together with navy assist.’”
In simply over half of the circumstances scrutinized by The Instances, courtroom information present the officer who was allegedly assaulted suffered no bodily damage. In roughly 30% of the circumstances, officers sustained minor accidents reminiscent of bruising following a punch, kick or chunk.
Twenty-six incidents resulted in a critical damage or required an agent to hunt medical consideration. A Portland ICE agent was smashed within the head with a rock, federal brokers suffered dislocated or fractured fingers in Los Angeles and a few brokers stated they have been attacked with their very own batons or stun weapons whereas attempting to detain individuals.
Protesters at an anti-ICE demonstration at Los Angeles Metropolis Corridor on June 15.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Instances)
The Instances’ evaluation doesn’t seize critical incidents in different jurisdictions, or assaults the place no fees have been filed. Assailants have opened hearth twice this 12 months on ICE services in Texas, although the individuals struck by bullets have been immigrant detainees and an area police officer.
The one documented incident wherein a federal regulation enforcement officer was shot throughout an immigration enforcement motion this 12 months occurred in Los Angeles in October — when a bullet from an ICE agent’s gun ricocheted right into a deputy marshal’s hand throughout a automobile cease.
One Nationwide Guard member was killed and one other was severely wounded in a capturing in Washington final week. Each have been a part of Trump’s anti-crime deployment. Officers have stated the gunman is from Afghanistan and was admitted to the U.S. in 2021 as a part of a Biden administration program to assist individuals fleeing the Taliban, and his asylum utility was permitted below Trump.
An undocumented immigrant from Mexico was additionally arrested after allegedly capturing at Border Patrol brokers in Chicago on Nov. 8, in accordance with the Division of Homeland Safety. A neighborhood Fox Information affiliate recognized the suspect as Hector Gomez, however a legal criticism makes no point out of capturing at brokers. DHS didn’t reply to inquiries from the Fox affiliate.
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) is amongst these questioning the administration’s claims. Throughout a Nov. 19 subcommittee listening to titled “ICE Beneath Fireplace: The Radical Left’s Campaign In opposition to Immigration Enforcement,” Padilla requested why there have been no authorities witnesses “offering info and information behind the numbers that the Division of Homeland Safety so usually cites to say a rise in assaults on its officers and brokers.”
“At present’s listening to shouldn’t be a critical try to guard regulation enforcement,” Padilla stated. “It’s designed to gas the propaganda machine and encourage much more brutal immigration enforcement operations.”
The purported weapons utilized in among the circumstances have solely fueled skepticism: A District of Columbia man was charged for throwing a Subway sandwich. In Portland, a girl was charged with assault through tambourine. In L.A., federal brokers have claimed assaults involving a hat, a piece bag, a flag — and the umbrella.
On June 7 — within the early days of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in California — Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino stood in Paramount, sounding like he was getting ready his officers for battle.
Bovino, addressing brokers decked out in tactical gear as protesters gathered close by, informed the brokers to “arrest as many individuals that contact you as you need to, these are the final orders all the way in which to the highest.”
“Everyone f— will get it in the event that they contact you,” Bovino stated. “That is our f— metropolis.”
The Nationwide Guard was deployed the subsequent day, with Trump publicly claiming Los Angeles was below siege.
The clip of Bovino was performed through the trial of Brayan Ramos-Brito, who was accused of pushing a Border Patrol agent that day in Paramount. Video proof reveals an agent shove Ramos-Brito, however doesn’t clearly seize him shoving the agent again.
Bovino testified that merely touching an agent “may very well be assault relying on the state of affairs. Spitting on somebody may very well be assault.”
After about an hour of deliberations — and regardless of Bovino testifying that he witnessed Ramos-Brito push an agent — the jury got here again with a not responsible verdict.
In Los Angeles, courtroom information present federal prosecutors have charged 71 individuals with assault on a federal officer this 12 months, with 21 of these circumstances ending in dismissals or acquittals. Solely 9 such circumstances have been filed in 2024.
Invoice Essayli, who’s functioning as L.A.’s high federal prosecutor, stated he wouldn’t “learn an excessive amount of” into dismissal figures.
(Damian Dovarganes / Related Press)
Throughout an October information convention, Invoice Essayli, who’s functioning as L.A.’s high federal prosecutor, stated he wouldn’t “learn an excessive amount of” into the dismissal figures.
“Once we cost a criticism we’re on the clock, so if the brokers want extra time to gather proof generally we are going to dismiss a case with out prejudice which permits us to deliver it again at our selecting,” he stated.
A former ICE official, who requested to not be named out of concern of retaliation, stated that in prior years the U.S. lawyer’s workplace “didn’t prosecute hardly anyone” for assault — until the interplay turned violent.
“We’d get guys who would spit on us and all types of different stuff and it was like, ‘Hey, it’s a part of the job,’” the official stated.
Legislation enforcement consultants famous that a rise in assaults is to be anticipated, since interactions by immigration brokers with the general public have elevated dramatically in Trump’s second time period.
John Sandweg, who headed ICE below President Obama, stated he believes new ways are serving to drive the rise. Beneath earlier administrations, ICE targeted on focused operations.
“Once you shift these ways and have brokers on the market in broad daylight, in Residence Depot parking tons, when you will have these cities on edge … it’s simply going to extend the variety of incidents the place some kind of an assault occurs,” he stated.
In quite a lot of circumstances examined by The Instances, defendants have been arrested and charged with assault after Border Patrol or ICE brokers initiated bodily contact.
Andrea Velez, a 4-foot 11-inch U.S. citizen, was accused of standing within the path of an ICE officer in downtown L.A. together with her arms prolonged, placing his head and chest after they collided in June. Her protection lawyer beforehand stated masked males ran at Velez and one shoved her to the bottom. Velez, fearing she was being kidnapped, held up her work bag to protect herself.
Velez’s lawyer requested body-worn digicam video and witness statements cited within the criticism. Quickly after, prosecutors dropped the case.
In Chicago, 4 assault circumstances have been filed in opposition to protesters who ignored a dispersal order outdoors an immigration detention facility and flailed in response to being shoved or struck by Border Patrol brokers. One of many defendants was a 70-year-old navy veteran. All fees have been dropped, information present.
Courtesy of lawyer Kacey McBroom
In one other L.A. case, a person was accused of assault for smacking an agent with a hat. Video footage from the scene in August confirmed the person, Jonathon Redondo-Rosales, swung after he was struck by a authorities automobile, as officers have been transferring to sort out him to the bottom.
In October, Marimar Martinez was shot 5 occasions by a Border Patrol agent who alleged she was following him in a automobile and interfering with a Chicago operation. Martinez allegedly collided with a CBP automobile, inflicting minor injury, in accordance with pictures included in a legal criticism.
However in a sudden turnabout a month later, prosecutors moved to dismiss the indictment in opposition to Martinez. A spokesperson for the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in Illinois stated in an announcement that prosecutors are “consistently evaluating new info and knowledge referring to circumstances and investigations.”
Martinez’s lawyer, Damon Cheronis, thanked prosecutors for doing the appropriate factor after reviewing what he known as Border Patrol’s hyperbolic claims in opposition to Martinez.
“The legal criticism made a variety of allegations that our consumer rammed them. There have been all these stories that our consumer had an assault weapon or was a home terrorist,” he stated. “None of that was true.”
Homeland Safety officers have additionally claimed a 1,300% improve in automobile assaults in opposition to ICE brokers; the 28 alleged assaults this 12 months since Jan. 20 marked a bounce from two in 2024.
Protesters rally in entrance of Metropolis Corridor in downtown L.A. for immigrant rights, to cease mass deportations and decrying what they see as threats to democracy.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Instances)
Of the 26 alleged automobile assaults captured by The Instances evaluation, 5 resulted in critical accidents. A member of a Homeland Safety job drive was hospitalized with a “doable sternum fracture” after being hit by a automobile in November in Nationwide Metropolis, simply outdoors of San Diego, in accordance with DHS.
A handful of different L.A. circumstances resulted in officers looking for medical analysis. One ICE agent wanted medical consideration after they have been hit with a skateboard whereas attempting to make an arrest in downtown L.A. in September, information present.
The month earlier than, Oscar Magana Reyes, who was allegedly attempting to flee an immigration arrest in San Bernardino, stole an ICE agent’s Taser and briefly incapacitated them with a shock to the groin. Reyes was indicted in October and is awaiting trial.
Though extra incidents are being reported, obtainable information nonetheless reveals native regulation enforcement officers are much more more likely to be attacked within the line of obligation than immigration brokers. L.A. County sheriff’s deputies confronted roughly 600 assaults from January to October of this 12 months, greater than double the variety of alleged on-duty assaults ICE brokers suffered nationwide from Jan. 21 to Nov. 21, in accordance with sheriff’s division information.
Charis Kubrin, a professor of regulation, criminology and sociology at UC Irvine, stated the administration’s trumpeting of a greater than 1,000% improve is deceptive when the bounce is coming from a baseline of virtually zero assaults in opposition to brokers.
“That is what we name in sociology an ethical panic,” she stated. “An ethical panic is created when statistics and different issues are used to form of create or socially assemble an issue that’s greater than it’s.”
Alexandria Augustine sits for a portrait at her residence in West Hollywood. Augustine not too long ago gained her courtroom case after being arrested whereas protesting ICE outdoors of the Metropolitan Detention Middle for allegedly assaulting a federal officer.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Instances)
The trial of Alexandria Augustine, the 25-year-old lady accused of assaulting a federal officer together with her umbrella, performed out over the course of a number of days in October.
Augustine informed The Instances she was supplied totally different plea offers in the middle of a couple of months, however determined to take her possibilities earlier than a jury.
“All the objective of a variety of that is to maintain individuals off the streets and maintain them up within the courts,” she stated. “They don’t anticipate us to combat again as a result of they’ve far more sources and energy than we do.”
In the course of the trial, Kibbe, the prosecutor, held up the steel skeleton of the umbrella and informed jurors that Augustine had hit a Federal Protecting Service inspector with it within the arm and chest.
Deputy federal public defender Aden Kahssai stated Augustine opened the umbrella to guard fellow protesters. It was the federal officer, she stated, who grabbed the umbrella, yanking the material off.
“What occurred right here was not an assault,” Kahssai informed jurors.
When Inspector Alexandro Gutierrez took the stand, he testified that he had grabbed the umbrella as a result of it obstructed his view. He testified that Augustine then informed him “in case you f—ing need it, right here,” after which threw it at him in an overhand movement.
“These items may probably trigger critical hurt,” he informed jurors. He testified that he wasn’t sporting a face protect and the steel ribs of the umbrella may have poked him within the eye.
Amongst those that turned out for Augustine’s trial was Margaret Ortiz, an Military fight veteran who had been charged with assault after the material of a black flag she was holding hit a federal officer within the chin, nostril and eyes. The case in opposition to her was later dismissed.
“I form of wished it to go to trial,” Ortiz stated outdoors the courtroom. “It was going to be silly, identical to this.”
Throughout closing arguments, Supervising Deputy Federal Public Defender Rebecca Abel stated Augustine had thrown the umbrella up and it dropped down and linked with Gutierrez. The umbrella, she stated, “couldn’t damage a fly, not to mention a 260-pound man” in a Kevlar vest.
“It barely touched him. He was not injured,” Abel stated. “This case started with a protest … it ought to by no means have ended right here, in a federal courtroom.”
Inside hours, the jury got here again with its verdict: Not responsible.
Instances researcher Cary Schneider and Information and Graphics reporter Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee contributed to this report.
