El Paso Police arrest a migrant in front of Sacred Heart Church on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023.
Riverside, California – Two employees at a San Bernardino County surgery center are facing federal charges after allegedly interfering with U.S. immigration officers attempting to detain an undocumented man who fled into their facility. The charges, announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice, allege that the staff members assaulted the officers and actively obstructed the arrest.
Jose de Jesus Ortega, 38, of Highland, was taken into custody Thursday morning and appeared in U.S. District Court in Riverside. Danielle Nadine Davila, 33, of Corona, is also charged but remains at large. Both are accused of assaulting a federal officer and conspiring to prevent officers from carrying out their duties.
The incident, which occurred on July 8, unfolded during a routine enforcement operation by two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Ontario. The officers, wearing clearly marked gear and operating a government vehicle, had been tracking a truck carrying three adult men. When the truck abruptly turned into the parking lot of the Ontario Advanced Surgical Center, two of the occupants fled on foot.
According to a federal affidavit, one of the men—identified as Denis Guillen-Solis, a Honduran national—was initially detained near the entrance to the surgery center but resisted and broke free, causing both himself and an ICE officer to fall. A medical staffer then allegedly helped Guillen-Solis up and assisted in pulling him away from the officer, allowing him to enter the building.
As ICE agents pursued him inside, Ortega and Davila—both dressed in medical scrubs—intervened. Davila reportedly positioned herself between the officer and the fleeing man, shouted at the officer to release him, and physically pushed him. Ortega is accused of grabbing the officer’s arm and vest in an attempt to prevent further pursuit.
Additional ICE agents arrived shortly after and reported seeing staff physically restraining the officer. Eventually, Guillen-Solis was detained and removed from the facility.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office emphasized that the man being pursued was not a patient of the center, and characterized the employees’ actions as a dangerous obstruction of federal law enforcement. The criminal complaint also alleges the employees locked the facility’s doors, blocked official vehicles, and called 911 to report what they described as a kidnapping in progress.
If convicted, Ortega and Davila each face up to eight years in prison for assaulting a federal officer and an additional six years for conspiracy to interfere with official duties. The case remains under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security.
