Photo credit: Daily Mail
A federal grand jury indicted a couple of Ontario medical center staff after they were accused of assaulting a federal immigration officer who was arresting a man authorities believed was undocumented last month.
The Press Enterprise reports that defence attorneys said the new charges appear retaliatory.
Jose de Jesus Ortega and Danielle Nadine Davilla were each indicted on one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer, according to the US Department of Justice.
They were initially charged by prosecutors in the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California last month in a criminal complaint with assaulting a federal officer and conspiracy to prevent a federal immigration officer from completing his duties through force and intimidation.
A US attorney, Bill Essay, in a statement when charges were first announced on July 25, said, “This story is another example of a false narrative echoed in the media in furtherance of an agenda to delegitimize federal agents. The illegal alien arrested inside the surgery center was not a patient. He ran inside for cover and these defendants attempted to block his apprehension by assaulting our agents.”
The defence attorneys said they believed the grand jury indictment was a retaliatory action because their clients declined an offer from prosecutors to plead guilty to a misdemeanour charge earlier this month. The attorneys said there had been no new evidence or witnesses to justify a new felony charge against their clients.
Two Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were making “roving immigration-related enforcements’ on July 8 in Ontario and were following a truck with three men in an unmarked government-operated vehicle when the truck made a sudden turn into the parking lot of the Ontario Advanced Surgery Center, according to the DOJ.
The men got out of the truck and two ran as officers approached, the prosecution alleged.
One of them was “partially detained” by an officer. However, the man, a Honduran immigrant named Denis Guillen-Solis, pulled away, causing himself and the officer to fall, according to the DOJ.
A medical staffer helped Guillen-Solis to his feet and pulled him away from the officer. He ran inside the surgery center, but an ICE officer followed and stopped him, the DOJ said.
Prosecutors allege that Davilla pushed herself between Guillen-Solia and the officer, pushing the officer and yelling “let him go” and “get out” while Ortega is accused of grabbing the officer’s arm and vest. The staffers were dressed in medical scrubs, the DOJ said.
In a viral video of the confrontation, one of the staff members says, “Get your hands off him. You don’t even have a warrant,” while shielding the man from an ICE officer. “Let him go. You need to get out.”
Finally, the officers detained and handcuffed Guillen-Solis.
Davilla and Ortega face a maximum sentence of eight years in prison if convicted. Their trial is scheduled for October 6.
