DHS arrests for assaulting ICE agents rarely charged, regularly dismissed
Alleged attacks on ICE agents rarely charged
In dozens of cases involving attacks on federal agents during immigration operations, prosecutors have declined to file charges, dismissed the case or failed to obtain a grand jury indictment.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A federal judge found prosecutors have "swung and missed — multiple times" in cases involving alleged attacks on federal agents during immigration operations.
DHS claims about attacks on ICE
What we know:
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claim attacks against federal agents have increased dramatically.
"Officers have been violently and aggressively assaulted," said Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who led Operation Metro Surge before being reassigned.
But in dozens of cases involving attacks on federal agents during immigration operations, prosecutors have declined to file charges, dismissed the case or failed to obtain a grand jury indictment, according to DHS and court records reviewed by the FOX 9 Investigators.
"When somebody other than the agents has to look at evidence and decide whether an assault happened, in the vast majority of situations, they're deciding, no, there's no evidence of an assault," said Rachel Moran, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas.
Local perspective:
More than a dozen people have been charged in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota with assaulting or impeding federal agents during Operation Metro Surge, including a recent case where a woman allegedly bit off the tip of an agent’s finger.
After arriving in Minnesota Wednesday, Attorney General Pamela Bond said more arrests are expected.
"NOTHING will stop President Trump and this Department of Justice from enforcing the law," Bondi wrote on social media.
However, federal prosecutors have already filed motions to dismiss three of the pending cases.
Dig deeper:
In one of those cases, the government accused Abdikadir Noor and Maxwell Collyard of "tackling" an immigration agent.
Collyard was charged but the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota now wants to drop the case.
"It now appears that the Government seeks to dismiss the matter because it lacks credible evidence to obtain an indictment before a grand jury and to avoid the embarrassment of making full discovery disclosures and having the misconduct of federal agents further exposed," Attorney Bruce Nestor wrote in a court filing last week.
Noor was detained for eight hours but never charged.
He is now part of a lawsuit against DHS over ICE tactics.
In that case, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez concluded federal agents "most likely" arrested Noor in retaliation because they were "simply fed up" with protesters.
"We have a number of demonstrably false claims where judges have found that Homeland Security agents were making misrepresentations about assaults," Moran said. "And so we know some of them have been already found to be untrue."
Charges declined and dismissed
By the numbers:
During an immigration operation in Chicago last fall, more than 90 people were arrested for assaulting or impeding federal immigration agents, according to internal records reviewed by the FOX 9 Investigators.
DHS rarely provides details about specific arrests.
However, a federal judge ordered the agency to turn over a list of every arrest made during the Chicago operation last fall that did not involve immigration-related offenses.
The list was filed as an exhibit in litigation over ICE tactics.
The FOX 9 Investigators reviewed court records in those 92 cases and found:
- Charges have not yet been filed in 54 cases.
- Prosecutors declined to file charges in 20 cases.
- Thirteen cases were charged but later dismissed.
- Charges have been filed and are still pending in 5 cases.
- There have been no convictions.
Trump Administration 'swung and missed' on charging ICE attacks
Dig deeper:
Other court records obtained by the FOX 9 Investigators revealed grand juries issued "no bills" in three cases, meaning they declined to issue indictments.
The grand jury decisions in particular alarmed U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Fuentes, who said the government has "swung and missed — multiple times."
Fuente said "a no bill" by a grand jury was virtually unheard of before the immigration operation started.
"The Court cannot help but note just how unusual and possibly unprecedented it is for the U.S. Attorney’s office in this district to charge so hastily that it either could not obtain the indictment in the grand jury or was forced to dismiss the case upon the conclusion that the case is not provable," Fuentes added.
What they're saying:
In Chicago, the judge found prosecutors repeatedly dismissed cases after concluding evidence presented by ICE and other immigration agents was insufficient.
In a case that drew comparisons to the deadly ICE shooting in Minneapolis, a woman was accused of attacking officers with her vehicle before she was shot five times.
The charge was later dismissed after prosecutors reviewed additional body camera footage, according to her attorney.
Another case was dismissed a day after defense attorneys said they planned to call Bovino as a witness, according to court records.
RELATED: ICE claims about vehicle attacks "difficult" to believe
Bovino's credibility has been in question for months after a judge found he was "outright lying" about ICE agents' use of force.
Bovino continued to accuse observers, protesters and "agitators" in Minnesota of stalking and attacking immigration agents.
DHS officials have claimed attacks on federal agents had surged 1,300%.
The FOX 9 Investigators requested specific incident data, but DHS has not responded.
While judges have acknowledged there have been several attacks on ICE agents during immigration operations, they have also found DHS has made "widespread misrepresentations."
One judge concluded DHS "cannot simply create their own narrative of what happened, misrepresenting the evidence to justify their actions."
The Source: This story uses information gathered from FOX 9 Investigators.