Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Homeland Security officers walk ahead of a bus at the DHS field office in Nashville, Tenn., on Sunday, May 4, 2025. Multiple immigrant rights groups gathered to protest what they believed to be a multiagency operation to detain noncitizens overnight.
Los Angeles, California – Two men were taken into custody Thursday morning after an immigration enforcement operation in Ontario erupted in gunfire, prompting a federal investigation led by the FBI.
The Department of Homeland Security said the shooting occurred around 6:30 a.m. in the 2800 block of South Vineyard Avenue, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were conducting a traffic stop. According to DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, agents had been pursuing an enforcement operation when an unexpected driver pulled up to the scene — and chaos followed.
“Officers ordered the driver to leave the scene. As the driver began to pull away, the car stopped and attempted to run officers over by reversing directly at them without stopping,” McLaughlin said in a statement to KTLA. “An ICE officer, fearing for his life, fired defensive shots at the vehicle.”
The man who was shot was later identified as 24-year-old Carlos Jimenez. He reportedly drove away from the scene after the shooting and returned to his nearby home at a mobile home park. His wife, speaking to local reporters, said Jimenez had just left for his morning shift at a food bank when the shooting happened. She drove him to the hospital, where his condition has not been publicly released.
Neighbors said they watched as federal agents swarmed Jimenez’s residence later that morning, searching his home and vehicle before a tow truck removed the car from the property.
The FBI confirmed it is investigating the shooting, a standard procedure in cases involving the use of deadly force by federal officers. The agency has not yet said how many shots were fired or whether Jimenez was armed.
The target of the original ICE enforcement action — reportedly driving a gray Honda — also attempted to flee during the chaos but was later apprehended. Officials have not released his identity or the nature of the charges he faces.
McLaughlin, in her statement, emphasized that ICE agents are confronting what she described as a “dramatic escalation” in attacks. She said assaults against immigration officers have increased by more than 1,000% in recent years, and threats against them by as much as 8,000%. “Our officers face violence on a near-daily basis,” McLaughlin said.
But immigrant-rights advocates say that narrative doesn’t tell the full story. Javier Hernandez, executive director of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, urged skepticism toward DHS’s statistics. “We’ve seen how this information isn’t necessarily accurate,” he told KTLA. “This is not the first time DHS has claimed that vehicles are being used against them. What we’re seeing instead are repeated instances of excessive force.”
The Ontario Police Department said it was not involved in the initial shooting and only responded later to assist with traffic control and scene security.
