US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were involved in a shooting in southern California on Thursday, prompting a federal investigation.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that ICE officers were conducting a vehicle stop in Ontario when another driver, who was not the target, approached. Officers ordered the driver to leave the area, according to the statement.
“As the driver began to pull away, the car stopped and attempted to run officers over by reversing directly at them without stopping,” Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary, said in a statement.
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“An ICE officer, fearing for his life, fired defensive shots at the vehicle. The subject fled the scene and abandoned his vehicle.”
The shooting was the second such incident in Los Angeles in recent weeks. Last week, federal agents shot a Los Angeles man who livestreams US immigration enforcement operations on social media.
Officials said at the time that Carlitos Ricardo Parias, a TikTok creator with a large following, attempted to ram federal agents’ vehicles after agents surrounded him and boxed in his car. Officers shot him in the elbow while a ricochet bullet hit a deputy US marshal in the hand.
In Phoenix on Wednesday, an ICE officer shot at a vehicle that officials had attempted to stop. The driver began to drive away and officials said the officer was in the vehicle’s path, ABC 15 reported.
The shootings come as Donald Trump’s administration attempts to significantly expand its deportation operations across the US. The government is reportedly moving to overhaul ICE leadership in order increase the pace of removals.
Meanwhile, conditions in ICE facilities are troubling. The Guardian reported this week that US immigration officials are increasingly holding people in small and secretive facilities for days and in some cases weeks, a violation of federal policy. At least 16 people died in ICE facilities between January and September.
Deportation operations have upended communities across the US, particularly in southern California where the fear of raids and removal has left residents on edge and in some cases fearful to leave their homes.
The homeland security department said in its statement that Thursday’s shooting “was another example of the threats our ICE officers are facing day-in and day-out as they risk their lives to enforce the law and arrest criminals”.
“ICE officers now face a 1,000% increase in assaults against them including cars being used as weapons and death threats against our agents are up 8000%,” McLaughlin said. “Let me be clear: anyone who assaults, impedes, obstructs, or threatens the lives of federal officers will be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
