SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Assault charges against Francisco Longoria were dropped after video evidence contradicted federal authorities’ claims, raising questions about the conduct of immigration officers and the accuracy of their account.
Three vehicles driven by federal immigration officers cut off Longoria, his son and son-in-law while they were driving in San Bernardino and pulled him over for an “immigration check,” according to reporting by Radley Balko.
Balko wrote that the men were apprehensive when approached by the masked agents. Despite this apprehension, the agents quickly “shattered the windows from either side…punched Longoria in the face while another reached for his son” and “opened fire” when Longoria sped away from them, leaving bullet holes in the passenger seat.
The Department of Homeland Security wrote in its press release that “CBP officers were injured in a vehicle stop after [the] subject refused to exit his car and attempted to run them down with his car.” They claimed “the suspect drove directly at the officers, striking two with his vehicle, forcing an officer to ‘discharge his firearm in self-defense.’”
During the court case in Riverside, the federal magistrate judge asked the federal prosecutor, Cory Burleson, to “explain what ‘immigration check’” meant, according to Melissa Gomez’s article in the Los Angeles Times. However, Longoria’s attorney noted that Burleson was unable to clarify the term, leading Javier Hernandez, executive director of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, to believe that the immigration check was due to agents racially profiling Longoria.
Gomez adds that “Burleson…claimed Longoria was stopped because of a traffic violation, but couldn’t identify the violation.” Balko reported that there was “no evidence that he struck the agents with his vehicle,” and that video evidence “disproves the claim that he drove directly at them.”
Despite this evidence, “federal agents showed up at Longoria’s home and demanded that he come out and surrender.” Neighbors and protesters showed up, escalating the situation into “an hours-long standoff” to a point where the “San Bernardino police came out for crowd control.”
Balko adds that police “refused to assist with arresting Longoria, citing state laws prohibiting local police from cooperating with immigration enforcement,” a reason that DHS claimed was a “tragic example of California’s pro-sanctuary policies that shield criminals instead of protecting communities.”
Despite the standoff, federal agents returned 12 days later “with a warrant, claiming he had assaulted federal officers,” according to Andrea Klick’s article in The Sun. Balko reported the agents “brought an armored personnel carrier and…pointed their rifles at his door while one demanded over a bullhorn that he come out.” He was arrested and taken into custody that day.
At Longoria’s hearing, a federal judge dismissed the assault charge, citing a lack of evidence. Gomez reported that “the federal magistrate judge ordered him released on a $5,000 bond.” Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, wrote in an email that “Longoria was being held at the San Bernardino County Jail, in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.” However, Longoria was transferred “into ICE custody” for being “an illegal alien.”
While Longoria was in ICE custody, Balko reported that his attorneys obtained video evidence confirming that “Longoria did not attempt to run over any agents [nor did he] attempt to run them over.”
According to Gomez, Hernandez warned Longoria’s family that the government would “use Longoria as an example to push the limits of what they can get away with” to ensure they have a case against him.
Exactly as Hernandez warned, “federal immigration officers…arrested Longoria again…for his undocumented status,” Balko writes. Longoria’s attorneys filed a habeas petition while “he was incarcerated for three months.”
Longoria’s attorneys will “continue advocating for Longoria, his son and son-in-law.” Longoria was set to be released on bond in December, according to a federal district court judge, and he is currently fighting his deportation.
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