A federal agent fired at a moving vehicle in southern California after the driver refused to roll down his window during an immigration stop and sped off, the Department of Homeland Security said.
A DHS statement said the driver struck two US Customs and Border Protection agents as he drove away on Saturday, prompting one agent to fire his weapon “in self-defense”. No one was hit by the bullets.
The department provided no other details about how or where the vehicle struck the agents and whether they were injured.
The DHS said the agents were conducting a “targeted enforcement operation” but provided no details about why they were targeting the unidentified man. The incident occurred just before 9am in San Bernardino county, east of Los Angeles.
Javier Hernandez, executive director of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, spoke to the man’s family and provided their account of the incident, a portion of which was captured on video by the driver’s son and son-in-law who were in the vehicle.
Hernandez did not disclose the 43-year-old driver’s name, and the DHS did not identify him. Hernandez said the man is from Mexico, has been in the US for 23 years and does not have legal status.
The 18-year-old son and 23-year-old son-in-law are US citizens, Hernandez said.
On the videos, the uniformed officers are wearing masks and have “police” written on vests. At least one is wearing a hat labeled CBP, for Customs and Border Protection. They approach the vehicle and tell the driver to roll down his window. The driver refuses and one of the others in the vehicle says: “What do you want?”
The agents then smash windows on both sides. The driver immediately drove away, and three shots can be heard in the video. The video does not show either officer being struck by the vehicle.
The driver called the San Bernardino police department and reported that masked men had pulled him over, broke his car window and shot at him, the police department said in a statement.
Police officers went to the family’s home and spoke to the driver. They left without taking him into custody because California law prohibits local police agencies from assisting federal officials with immigration enforcement, the department said.
Federal agents later arrived at the man’s home, but the family did not allow them to enter because they did not have a warrant, Hernandez said. The DHS did not respond to questions about whether they had a warrant and were still seeking the man’s arrest.
A crowd gathered outside the family’s home in response to the presence of federal agents. The San Bernardino police returned to assist with crowd control, the department said.
The man and his family declined an interview request from the Associated Press.
The DHS criticized the police department for not arresting the man.
“This reckless decision came despite the subject’s outright refusal to comply and his wounding of two federal officers,” DHS said in a statement. “It is yet another tragic example of California’s pro-sanctuary policies that shield criminals instead of protecting communities.”
There is no clear definition of sanctuary jurisdictions, but the term is generally applied to state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration has spread across southern California, where local officials say federal actions are spreading fear in immigrant communities. Raids in the Los Angeles region spurred protests and the deployment of the national guard and marines in the city for nearly two months.
After an appeals court upheld a temporary order by a district court judge banning indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests, the administration has asked the supreme court to lift the restrictions in an emergency petition.
California, which has been a sanctuary state that protects immigrant rights, has been a prime target for federal raids. Earlier this month, the US justice department published a list of such states, cities and counties, claiming they “impede enforcement of federal immigration laws” and promising to eradicate the policies through litigation.
The state’s protections have not stopped federal agents’ raids, which have continued in the face of local protests. They have also sparked widespread fear in immigrant communities as the arrests have become increasingly violent.
On Thursday, a man was hit by a vehicle and killed as he attempted to get away from federal immigration officers who were raiding a Home Depot in Los Angeles county.
Previous raids and arrests have involved border patrol agents leaping out of a rental truck to ambush people and using excessive force such as slamming people to the ground or carrying them away. Many of those arrested have reported being injured in the process.
Gabrielle Canon contributed reporting