ONTARIO, CA — Two employees at a San Bernardino County surgery center are facing federal charges after prosecutors said they assaulted and interfered with immigration agents during an ICE arrest at the facility.
Jose de Jesus Ortega, 38, of Highland, was arrested Friday morning and was expected to make his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Riverside on Friday afternoon, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced.
Law enforcement is still looking for 33-year-old Danielle Nadine Davila of Corona. Both are charged with assaulting a federal officer and conspiracy to prevent by force and intimidation a federal officer from discharging his duties.
According to an affidavit filed Thursday with the complaint, on July 8, two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were conducting an operation in Ontario. Federal prosecutors said they were wearing government-issued equipment, including law enforcement vests, and were in an unmarked government-operated vehicle.
The officers were following a truck carrying three men when the truck made a quick turn into the parking lot of Ontario Advanced Surgery Center, prosecutors said. According to charging documents, the officers approached the men after they exited the truck, and two of them ran away.
Prosecutors said one of the fleeing men, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, was partially detained near the surgery center’s front entrance before he resisted and pulled away, causing both him and the ICE officer to fall to the ground.
Shortly afterward, prosecutors said a surgery center employee helped the man off the ground and helped pull him away from the officer. The man proceeded inside the surgery center and was pursued by the ICE officer, who eventually stopped him.
Prosecutors claim that Ortega and Davila, both dressed in medical scrubs, impeded and interfered with the arrest. Court documents say Davila wedged herself between the officer and the man, and that she pushed the officer and shouted, “Let him go!” and “Get out!” Prosecutors said Ortega grabbed the officer’s arm and then his vest.
The officers eventually detained the man, then left the surgery center with him.
Cell phone video obtained by Patch news partner CBS Los Angeles showed the moments leading up to the man’s detainment. The outlet also identified the detainee as 30-year-old Dennis Guillen, who was working as a landscaper when the agents arrived at the surgery center to serve warrants.
