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 item 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 legislation 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% enhance in assaults in opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers.
However a Instances evaluation of court docket information associated to assaults on federal legislation 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 instances The Instances reviewed, federal legislation enforcement officers have been both shoved, spat on or flailed at, or had water bottles thrown at them, in line 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 expenses dropped. Greater than a 3rd of the instances The Instances analyzed resulted in dismissals or acquittals, in some cases as a result of the defendants have been deported. No instances 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 a press release that stated “our officers are going through terrorist assaults, being shot at, having automobiles getting used as weapons in opposition to them, bomb threats, assaults, doxxing.”
McLaughlin highlighted a case by which she stated 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 Instances with a press release that stated “our officers are going through terrorist assaults, being shot at, having automobiles getting used as weapons in opposition to them, bomb threats, assaults, doxxing.”
(Jose Luis Magana / Related Press)
President Trump invoked the 1,000% enhance determine in a memo directing federal legislation 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% enhance in assaults on ICE brokers from Jan. 21 to Nov. 21, with 238 reported assaults this yr 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 legislation enforcement and immigration operations or threatened to deploy the navy 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 yr.
The 2024 information can be inflated by the submitting of assault expenses 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 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 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 pressure in opposition to the individuals they’re arresting and the general public as they work together with people on the road,” he stated. “I feel that’s the first function, to say: ‘We’re beneath assault. We’re being assaulted every day and due to this fact we’d like to have the ability to use excessive pressure together with navy assist.’”
In simply over half of the instances scrutinized by The Instances, court docket information present the officer who was allegedly assaulted suffered no bodily damage. In roughly 30% of the instances, officers sustained minor accidents akin to bruising following a punch, kick or chunk.
Twenty-six incidents resulted in a severe 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 severe incidents in different jurisdictions, or assaults the place no expenses have been filed. Assailants have opened fireplace twice this yr 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 yr 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 critically 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 software was authorised beneath Trump.
An undocumented immigrant from Mexico was additionally arrested after allegedly capturing at Border Patrol brokers in Chicago on Nov. 8, in line with the Division of Homeland Safety. A neighborhood Fox Information affiliate recognized the suspect as Hector Gomez, however a prison 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 Below Fireplace: The Radical Left’s Campaign In opposition to Immigration Enforcement,” Padilla requested why there have been no authorities witnesses “offering information and information behind the numbers that the Division of Homeland Safety so usually cites to assert a rise in assaults on its officers and brokers.”
“Right this moment’s listening to is just not a severe try to guard legislation enforcement,” Padilla stated. “It’s designed to gasoline the propaganda machine and encourage much more brutal immigration enforcement operations.”
The purported weapons utilized in a few of the instances 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, instructed 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.”
“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 beneath siege.
The clip of Bovino was performed throughout 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 “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 information present federal prosecutors have charged 71 individuals with assault on a federal officer this yr, 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, 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.
“After we cost a criticism we’re on the clock, so if the brokers want extra time to gather proof typically we’ll 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 worry 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.
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, stated he believes new ways are serving to drive the rise. Below earlier administrations, ICE centered on focused operations.
“If 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 form of an assault occurs,” he stated.
In a lot of instances 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. along with her arms prolonged, putting 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 defend 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 instances have been filed in opposition to protesters who ignored a dispersal order exterior 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 expenses 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 shifting to deal with 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 line with pictures included in a prison 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 a press release that prosecutors are “always evaluating new information and knowledge regarding instances and investigations.”
Martinez’s lawyer, Damon Cheronis, thanked prosecutors for doing the appropriate factor after reviewing what he referred to as Border Patrol’s hyperbolic claims in opposition to Martinez.
“The prison criticism made a variety of allegations that our consumer rammed them. There have been all these experiences 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% enhance in automobile assaults in opposition to ICE brokers; the 28 alleged assaults this yr 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 severe accidents. A member of a Homeland Safety activity pressure was hospitalized with a “attainable sternum fracture” after being hit by a automobile in November in Nationwide Metropolis, simply exterior of San Diego, in line with DHS.
A handful of different L.A. instances resulted in officers in search of 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, out there information nonetheless reveals native legislation 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 yr, greater than double the variety of alleged on-duty assaults ICE brokers suffered nationwide from Jan. 21 to Nov. 21, in line with sheriff’s division information.
Charis Kubrin, a professor of legislation, criminology and sociology at UC Irvine, stated the administration’s trumpeting of a greater than 1,000% enhance is deceptive when the bounce 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 stated. “An ethical panic is created when statistics and different issues are used to form of create or socially assemble an issue that’s larger than it’s.”
Alexandria Augustine sits for a portrait at her house in West Hollywood. Augustine lately gained her court docket case after being arrested whereas protesting ICE exterior of the Metropolitan Detention Heart 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 along with her umbrella, performed out over the course of a number of days in October.
Augustine instructed The Instances she was provided completely different plea offers in the middle of a couple of months, however determined to take her possibilities earlier than a jury.
“Your entire function 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 battle again as a result of they’ve far more assets and energy than we do.”
Throughout the trial, Kibbe, the prosecutor, held up the metallic skeleton of the umbrella and instructed 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 instructed 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 instructed him “should you f—ing need it, right here,” after which threw it at him in an overhand movement.
“This stuff might probably trigger severe hurt,” he instructed jurors. He testified that he wasn’t sporting a face defend and the metallic ribs of the umbrella might 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 exterior 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 related 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 Knowledge and Graphics reporter Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee contributed to this report.
