The federal prosecutor confronted the jury, brandishing the merchandise he mentioned had been “used as a sword” to assault a federal officer throughout a July protest in downtown Los Angeles.
The thing that Assistant U.S. Atty. Patrick Kibbe mentioned 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 legislation enforcement officers finishing up the president’s deportation marketing campaign as justification for aggressive techniques, 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 Occasions evaluation of court docket data associated to assaults on federal legislation enforcement in Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, Ore., Chicago and Washington, D.C., exhibits nearly all of the alleged assaults resulted in no harm to an agent. In roughly 42% of the instances The Occasions reviewed, federal legislation enforcement officers have been both shoved, spat on or flailed at, or had water bottles thrown at them, in keeping with court docket affidavits.
Throughout the umbrella assault trial in October, prosecutors supplied 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 instances The Occasions analyzed led to dismissals or acquittals, in some cases as a result of the defendants have been deported. No instances have led to a conviction at trial.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Division of Homeland Safety, responded to questions from The Occasions concerning the assault numbers with a press release that mentioned “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 by which she mentioned an ICE officer wanted 13 stitches and suffered burns after he was crushed with a metallic 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 severe head accidents.
Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, responded to questions from The Occasions with a press release that mentioned “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 legislation enforcement teams to research “home terrorism,” and federal officers have cited the quantity repeatedly to justify aggressive techniques 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 a whole 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 Occasions analyzed have been the federal districts the place the Trump administration has carried out large-scale legislation enforcement and immigration operations or threatened to deploy the army due to the supposed hazard confronted by federal brokers. In these areas, 163 instances 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 analogous determine earlier this 12 months.
The 2024 information can also 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 Occasions evaluation captured assaults in opposition to all sorts of federal officers. ICE or Border Patrol brokers have been described as victims in about 60% of these instances.
David Bier, director of immigration research on the Cato Institute, a libertarian suppose tank, mentioned the federal government is counting on the stunning percentages, with out correct context, to advance a story.
“They’re justifying why they should use excessive pressure in opposition to the individuals they’re arresting and the general public as they work together with people on the road,” he mentioned. “I feel that’s the first objective, to say: ‘We’re beneath assault. We’re being assaulted day by day and subsequently we’d like to have the ability to use excessive pressure together with army help.’”
In simply over half of the instances scrutinized by The Occasions, court docket data present the officer who was allegedly assaulted suffered no bodily harm. In roughly 30% of the instances, officers sustained minor accidents similar to bruising following a punch, kick or chunk.
Twenty-six incidents resulted in a severe harm 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 mentioned they have been attacked with their very own batons or stun weapons whereas making an attempt to detain individuals.
Protesters at an anti-ICE demonstration at Los Angeles Metropolis Corridor on June 15.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
The Occasions’ evaluation doesn’t seize severe 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 by which a federal legislation 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 car cease.
One Nationwide Guard member was killed and one other was severely wounded in a taking pictures in Washington final week. Each have been a part of Trump’s anti-crime deployment. Officers have mentioned 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 software was authorised beneath Trump.
An undocumented immigrant from Mexico was additionally arrested after allegedly taking pictures at Border Patrol brokers in Chicago on Nov. 8, in keeping with the Division of Homeland Safety. An area Fox Information affiliate recognized the suspect as Hector Gomez, however a felony grievance makes no point out of taking pictures 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 Below Fireplace: The Radical Left’s Campaign In opposition to Immigration Enforcement,” Padilla requested why there have been no authorities witnesses “offering details 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.”
“Immediately’s listening to isn’t a severe try to guard legislation enforcement,” Padilla mentioned. “It’s designed to gas the propaganda machine and encourage much more brutal immigration enforcement operations.”
The purported weapons utilized in a number of the instances have solely fueled skepticism: A District of Columbia man was charged for throwing a Subway sandwich. In Portland, a lady was charged with assault by way of 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, advised the brokers to “arrest as many individuals that contact you as you wish to, these are the overall orders all the way in which to the highest.”
“All people f— will get it in the event that they contact you,” Bovino mentioned. “That is our f— metropolis.”
The Nationwide Guard was deployed the following day, with Trump publicly claiming Los Angeles was beneath 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 exhibits an agent shove Ramos-Brito, however doesn’t clearly seize him shoving the agent again.
Bovino testified that merely touching an agent “might be assault relying on the state of affairs. Spitting on somebody might 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, court docket data present federal prosecutors have charged 71 individuals with assault on a federal officer this 12 months, with 21 of these instances ending in dismissals or acquittals. Solely 9 such instances have been filed in 2024.
Invoice Essayli, who’s functioning as L.A.’s high federal prosecutor, mentioned 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, mentioned he wouldn’t “learn an excessive amount of” into the dismissal figures.
“After we cost a grievance we’re on the clock, so if the brokers want extra time to gather proof typically we are going to dismiss a case with out prejudice which permits us to deliver it again at our selecting,” he mentioned.
A former ICE official, who requested to not be named out of worry of retaliation, mentioned that in prior years the U.S. lawyer’s workplace “didn’t prosecute hardly anyone” for assault — except the interplay turned violent.
“We’d get guys who would spit on us and every kind of different stuff and it was like, ‘Hey, it’s a part of the job,’” the official mentioned.
Regulation 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 beneath President Obama, mentioned he believes new techniques are serving to drive the rise. Below earlier administrations, ICE targeted on focused operations.
“If you shift these techniques and have brokers on the market in broad daylight, in Dwelling Depot parking tons, when you will have these cities on edge … it’s simply going to extend the variety of incidents the place some form of an assault occurs,” he mentioned.
In a lot of instances examined by The Occasions, 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. along with her arms prolonged, placing his head and chest once they collided in June. Her protection lawyer beforehand mentioned 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 digital camera video and witness statements cited within the grievance. Quickly after, prosecutors dropped the case.
In Chicago, 4 assault instances 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 army veteran. All fees have been dropped, data 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 car, as officers have been shifting to sort out him to the bottom.
In October, Marimar Martinez was shot 5 instances by a Border Patrol agent who alleged she was following him in a automotive and interfering with a Chicago operation. Martinez allegedly collided with a CBP car, inflicting minor harm, in keeping with pictures included in a felony grievance.
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 mentioned in a press release that prosecutors are “continually evaluating new details and data regarding instances and investigations.”
Martinez’s lawyer, Damon Cheronis, thanked prosecutors for doing the suitable factor after reviewing what he referred to as Border Patrol’s hyperbolic claims in opposition to Martinez.
“The felony grievance made plenty of allegations that our consumer rammed them. There have been all these studies that our consumer had an assault weapon or was a home terrorist,” he mentioned. “None of that was true.”
Homeland Safety officers have additionally claimed a 1,300% improve in car assaults in opposition to ICE brokers; the 28 alleged assaults this 12 months since Jan. 20 marked a leap 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 Occasions)
Of the 26 alleged car assaults captured by The Occasions evaluation, 5 resulted in severe accidents. A member of a Homeland Safety job pressure was hospitalized with a “doable sternum fracture” after being hit by a automotive in November in Nationwide Metropolis, simply outdoors of San Diego, in keeping with DHS.
A handful of different L.A. instances resulted in officers searching for medical analysis. One ICE agent wanted medical consideration after they have been hit with a skateboard whereas making an attempt to make an arrest in downtown L.A. in September, data present.
The month earlier than, Oscar Magana Reyes, who was allegedly making an attempt 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, out there information nonetheless exhibits native legislation enforcement officers are much more more likely to be attacked within the line of responsibility 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 keeping with sheriff’s division data.
Charis Kubrin, a professor of legislation, criminology and sociology at UC Irvine, mentioned the administration’s trumpeting of a greater than 1,000% improve is deceptive when the leap is coming from a baseline of just about zero assaults in opposition to brokers.
“That is what we name in sociology an ethical panic,” she mentioned. “An ethical panic is created when statistics and different issues are used to sort of create or socially assemble an issue that’s greater than it’s.”
Alexandria Augustine sits for a portrait at her dwelling in West Hollywood. Augustine not too long ago gained her court docket case after being arrested whereas protesting ICE outdoors of the Metropolitan Detention Middle for allegedly assaulting a federal officer.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Occasions)
The trial of Alexandria Augustine, the 25-year-old girl accused of assaulting a federal officer along with her umbrella, performed out over the course of a number of days in October.
Augustine advised The Occasions she was supplied completely different plea offers in the middle of a couple of months, however determined to take her probabilities earlier than a jury.
“The complete objective of plenty of that is to maintain individuals off the streets and maintain them up within the courts,” she mentioned. “They don’t count on us to struggle again as a result of they’ve far more sources and energy than we do.”
Throughout the trial, Kibbe, the prosecutor, held up the metallic skeleton of the umbrella and advised jurors that Augustine had hit a Federal Protecting Service inspector with it within the arm and chest.
Deputy federal public defender Aden Kahssai mentioned Augustine opened the umbrella to guard fellow protesters. It was the federal officer, she mentioned, who grabbed the umbrella, yanking the material off.
“What occurred right here was not an assault,” Kahssai advised 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 advised 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 severe hurt,” he advised jurors. He testified that he wasn’t sporting a face protect and the metallic 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 sort of needed it to go to trial,” Ortiz mentioned outdoors the courtroom. “It was going to be silly, similar to this.”
Throughout closing arguments, Supervising Deputy Federal Public Defender Rebecca Abel mentioned Augustine had thrown the umbrella up and it dropped down and linked with Gutierrez. The umbrella, she mentioned, “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 mentioned. “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.
Occasions researcher Cary Schneider and Information and Graphics reporter Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee contributed to this report.
