Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer badge.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot and killed a man in California on Tuesday after he allegedly “had a deadly weapon in his car” and tried to run over a police officer, according to the acting director of ICE.
ICE agents were conducting a targeted vehicle stop in the Central Valley town of Paterson to arrest Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, an alleged 18th Street gang member wanted in El Salvador for questioning in connection with a murder, authorities said. The gang, based in Los Angeles, has more than 100,000 members, according to federal authorities.
“As officers approached the vehicle, a wanted gang member brought a weapon into his vehicle and attempted to run over the officers,” ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons said in a statement.
“After the training, our nation’s police officers fired defensive fire to protect themselves, their fellow officers, and the public,” Lyons said. “The illegal alien was taken to a local hospital.”
“The FBI is on the scene,” he said. “This is a developing situation and we will share more information with the public as it becomes available.”
The shooting occurred during a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security that began in February. Congressional Democrats were hesitant to vote for continued funding for the department, which would include funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
DHS has been under intense criticism since January, when federal agents working on immigration enforcement in Minneapolis shot and killed two Americans in separate incidents.
On January 7th, an ICE officer killed Renee Nicole Goode, who was driving a car.
On January 24, a Border Patrol officer shot and killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti as she lay on the ground while being restrained by other officers.
Videos of both of these shootings contradicted initial claims about the events by Trump administration officials.
Kristi Noem, then-Secretary of Homeland Security, initially claimed that Preti had committed an “act of domestic terrorism” and brandished a gun, neither of which were supported by evidence. Noem also initially gave an account of Good’s shooting that contradicted footage from the scene, alleging that Good “used his car as a weapon and attempted to run over the officer.”
On Monday, the New York Times reported that footage of an immigration officer fatally shooting a Venezuelan immigrant for the third time in Minneapolis contradicts the officer’s claims that he was beaten with shovels and brooms by three assailants for about three minutes before firing his gun.
“Instead, the confrontation depicted in the video lasts about 12 seconds and shows two men struggling with the agent. It does not show a sustained attack with a shovel,” the Times reported.
The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post Tuesday that it is “supporting an officer-involved shooting incident involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents within our jurisdiction” in Paterson.
“At this time, we can confirm that local law enforcement is not involved in the incident,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
