ICE Shoots Man During Traffic Stop in Central Valley, Continues Raids Across Southern California

ICE Opens Fire During Traffic Stop

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez during a traffic stop on Interstate 5 near Patterson, California on Tuesday morning. According to ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, agents fired "defensive shots" after Mendoza Hernandez allegedly tried to run over an agent with his vehicle during what ICE described as a "targeted traffic stop."

The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office confirmed the shooting occurred around 7:00 a.m. near Sperry Avenue. Mendoza Hernandez was transported to a local hospital. The Sheriff's Office stated that no local law enforcement participated in the operation.

ICE claims Mendoza Hernandez is a member of the 18th Street Gang and is wanted for questioning in El Salvador in connection to a murder. The agency has not released body camera footage or additional evidence to support its account of the shooting. A recent incident in Minneapolis shows how ICE accounts of shootings can contradict video evidence -- new footage from that case appears to undermine agents' claims about what happened.

Stalking Workers From Home Depot

In Oceanside, a community member leaving a Home Depot parking lot around 9:30 a.m. noticed two vehicles with no license plates following him onto Highway 76. The vehicles tailed him as he drove toward a jobsite, eventually forcing him to stop.

Community watchers report that ICE agents surrounded the car and told the man he was "here illegally." Agents detained him for two hours, drove him to an area outside the Vista Detention Facility where he remained in a vehicle, then drove him near Encinitas before turning around and dropping him back where they had originally stopped him. The purpose of the two-hour detention and joyride remains unclear.

Raids Across Southern California

ICE conducted at least eight additional operations across Southern California on Tuesday:

In Oasis and Thermal, near Pierce Street and 70th Avenue, agents conducted a traffic stop on a work truck around 5:30 a.m. and detained all three people inside.

In Glendora, on 132 S Lone Hill Avenue, male ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents kidnapped a young woman from a residential area. Residents photographed the abduction.

In San Gabriel, ICE agents took a woman from an Asian supermarket on Las Tunas Drive near Alhambra. Community members told L.A. TACO that another person was taken from the same location just last week.

In Lennox, community watchers confronted suspicious vehicles with invalid or missing license plates that had been parked on 106th Street and Hawthorne Boulevard from 9:30 a.m. to noon. When watchers demanded the drivers identify themselves, the vehicles drove off.

ICE vehicles were also spotted in Anaheim near Melrose Street and Broadway around 6:00 a.m., and in San Bernardino at an ISAP office on 255 N D Street around 9:20 a.m.

Pattern of Aggressive Enforcement

The raids represent a single day in an ongoing campaign of immigration enforcement that has expanded beyond targeting people with criminal records. ICE is now detaining workers at jobsites, following vehicles from Home Depot parking lots, and conducting operations at grocery stores and residential neighborhoods.

Recent reports show ICE arrested more than 800 people after receiving tips from the Transportation Security Administration at airports. In other cases, agents arrested the wife of a U.S. soldier at a military base and revoked the green cards of relatives of Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian general killed in a 2020 U.S. drone strike.

Community watch groups across Southern California have mobilized to document ICE operations and confront agents conducting surveillance. In Los Angeles, an anonymous person has been posting fake parking signs warning "No Parking: ICE Enforcement Zone" to alert communities to enforcement activity.

The escalation has also affected children in ICE custody. A lawyer representing one family says an immigrant toddler was sexually abused while in custody as her father sought her release.

ICE has not responded to questions about its use of unmarked vehicles with no license plates or invalid registration, a tactic that makes it difficult for community members to distinguish agents from criminals conducting kidnappings.