Colombian national ‘broke ICE agent’s nose’ during attempted arrest in New Jersey

A 27-year-old man from Columbia who was being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers allegedly threw an elbow and busted an agent’s nostril, in keeping with federal prosecutors.

Hector Villegas-Alvarez has been charged with assaulting a federal official, in keeping with the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace.

ICE agents had been conducting surveillance exterior of Villegas-Alvarez’s residence in New Jersey on February 23 and had been hoping to arrest him for entering the country illegally, in keeping with a U.S. Justice Department news release.

When the brokers surveilling the house moved to arrest Villegas-Alvarez, he allegedly bodily resisted and elbowed one of many brokers within the face.

The blow broke the agent’s nostril and gave her a concussion. Federal prosecutors declare that the ICE agent suffered “extreme post-concussion signs, together with fainting and issue respiration.”

The assault cost carries with it a most penalty of 20 years in jail and a nice of as much as $250,000.

Between April 6 and April 12, ICE has arrested greater than 200 folks within the New York City metro area, all underneath the directive of President Donald Trump’s “Operation Take Again America,” which the Justice Division describes as “a nationwide initiative that marshals the complete sources of the Division of Justice to repel the invasion of unlawful immigration, obtain the entire elimination of cartels and transnational felony organizations, and defend our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.”

Whereas the Justice Division and Trump push the concept that these raids and deportations are focused on harmful people, lots of the arrests up to now have been of individuals with no felony historical past.

ICE brokers have taken a Vietnamese father into custody who was dropped at the U.S. as a baby and had been frequently attending check-ins with the federal authorities. They’ve additionally rounded up foreign national students attending faculties within the U.S. who’ve been vocally important of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.