California man shot by ICE says officials falsely labeled him a gang member

A California man shot by US immigration agents said officials have falsely accused him of being a gang member and that officers fired on him without justification during a traffic stop.Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, 36, was pulled over and shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on Tuesday in Patterson, a rural agricultural town in California’s central valley. Patrick Kolasinski, Hernandez’s attorney, visited him in the hospital on Thursday morning and summarized his client’s comments.Hernandez was hit by more than six bullets, including one that struck his face, and he has undergone three surgeries, the lawyer said.ICE is facing growing scrutiny over the shooting, with Hernandez’s family saying officials have made false and misleading statements about him in the aftermath.Dashcam footage of the encounter showed three ICE agents outside Hernandez’s car. The video is grainy and has no sound, but it captured Hernandez reversing away from the officers with his passenger door open and two of the officers pointing their firearms at him. The car then drove forward and jumped over a median out of view.It was not clear from the video when the officers fired shots. Todd Lyons, ICE’s acting director, said in a statement that Hernandez “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run an officer over”, though no officers were hit by the car. Lyons said the officers “fired defensive shots to protect themselves, their fellow agents, and the public”.Kolasinski, who was able to visit Hernandez for the first time, said his client was “very adamant … he was fired on before he moved the vehicle”. Kolasinski said the car’s movements seen on video were a response to the gunfire: “He was trying to get away because he was being shot at … he fled in a panic.”Kolasinski said it wasn’t immediately clear why the officers fired at him in the first place, and that he was still piecing together what happened as Hernandez was not able to speak clearly due to his extensive injuries. Hernandez is in the intensive care unit, the lawyer said.Hernandez has a two-year-old daughter with his partner and does work rehabilitating buildings damaged in fires, the attorney said. He was on his way to a job when he was pulled over.Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez was hit by more than six bullets. Photograph: Courtesy of Patrick KolasinskiICE’s statement on Tuesday also alleged that Hernandez was part of the “18th Street Gang”, a group generally associated with Los Angeles. Lyons also claimed Hernandez was “wanted in El Salvador for questioning in connection to a murder”. ICE has not provided evidence for either claim.“He said he has never, ever, ever been in a gang,” Kolasinski said after his visit with Hernandez, noting Hernandez had only been to Los Angeles a few times for short visits. “He absolutely is adamant he was never in the [18th Street] gang … He is very clearly not involved in an LA gang … We have no clue where the heck that comes from.”Kolasinski said 2019 court records from El Salvador, where Hernandez is from, suggest Hernandez was at one point accused of murder, but was acquitted and released from custody. The lawyer said he was still investigating his history in El Salvador, and that it appeared Hernandez does not currently have status in the US.A DHS spokesperson declined to answer questions about why Hernandez was stopped and did not respond to inquiries about the lawyer’s claims.Kolasinski said Department of Justice representatives told him Hernandez was not in federal custody or currently under arrest.Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the US attorney’s office in the region, declined to comment on Thursday.ICE has repeatedly faced backlash for shooting people during traffic stops and claiming in press statements that the drivers had “weaponized” their cars. In the January killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, officials claimed she had “attempted to kill or cause bodily harm to federal law enforcement” with her car, saying she “ran over” the officer who shot her. But footage revealed she was initially reversing before she was shot and the agent was not run over.ICE has also routinely faced criticisms for labeling people as gang members without evidence.In January, after a US border patrol agent shot two people in a vehicle in Oregon, the Department of Homeland Security said the targets were “vicious” members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. But court records obtained by the Guardian revealed the Department of Justice later directly contradicted DHS, saying of the driver: “We’re not suggesting … [he] is a gang member.”The passenger shot in the Oregon incident was a woman who DHS said had been “involved” in a prior shooting in Portland. But records revealed her involvement was not as a suspect, but rather a reported victim of a sexual assault and robbery. Critics in Oregon accused DHS of launching a “smear campaign”.Kolasinski sharply criticized ICE’s handling of the traffic stop in an interview on Wednesday. Police departments across the US have increasingly advised their officers not to fire at moving vehicles due to the risk of endangering bystanders. “ICE’s horrible training is putting everyone in danger, including themselves.”Hernandez is a “loving, hardworking partner”, the lawyer said, adding that his two-year-old daughter struggled to understand where her father was: “It’s devastating. Her dad always puts her to bed. She just kept staring at the door, waiting for dad to come home.”