ICE Shot at His Truck. Then Arrested Him at Gunpoint.

What happened on that Saturday morning

Francisco Longoria runs a party supply business in San Bernardino, a predominantly Latino city about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. On August 16, he was driving his truck to deliver a water-slide jumper. His son Jonathan and son-in-law Daniel Rascon were with him. Three unmarked vehicles suddenly stopped the truck. Four masked men jumped out with guns drawn. Longoria said the agents never identified themselves. "I thought, are we going to be kidnapped by these masked men?" he said in Spanish. The agents were with ICE and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

One agent knocked on the window and told Longoria to roll it down — but had no warrant. When Longoria did not comply, the agent smashed the glass and struck him in the face. Another agent broke the front passenger window. Longoria hit the gas. As he drove away, an agent fired three rounds. Two bullet holes were left in the passenger side of the truck. One bullet barely missed the back window, where Rascon was sitting. "One of us is about to get killed," Rascon thought. The whole encounter lasted less than a minute.

When Longoria called 911 from home, local police misread federal call logs and believed he had fired back at agents. They arrested him, then released him after finding no criminal record. But ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents showed up at his home without a warrant and demanded entry. The family refused. Neighbors poured into the street to support them. Officers deployed pepper spray and arrested several bystanders. Twelve days later, at 4:19 a.m. on August 28, federal agents in helmets and night-vision goggles returned with a warrant. They broke the locks on both doors and pointed assault rifles — lasers landing on the body of Rascon's fiancée, who was five months pregnant. Longoria was taken to the Adelanto ICE detention facility, a 2,000-person center in the California high desert. He lost an estimated 20 pounds there. The felony charge — assault against federal officers with a dangerous weapon — was eventually dropped.

Why this case matters for your ICE arrest rights

The Longoria family has filed a federal lawsuit against the government and the officers involved. The lawsuit alleges the agents violated CBP's own use-of-force policy, which prohibits shooting at a moving vehicle that is merely fleeing — unless the agent reasonably believes deadly force is being used against them. The lawsuit also alleges the officers violated a California judge's temporary restraining order that barred targeting people based solely on race, language, or type of work. Attorney Greg Jackson of the Simon Law Group called it "an illegal stop" and said agents "saw brown people in a truck and decided to exercise their perceived authority over them." The family's lawyers are asking California Attorney General Rob Bonta to open a criminal investigation. DHS did not respond to a detailed request for comment before publication. According to Trace, a US outlet tracking such shootings, ICE has opened fire on at least 30 people since January 2025.

What to do

• If agents stop you without a warrant, you have the right to stay silent and refuse to open your door. Calmly say: "I do not consent to a search. I want to speak to a lawyer."
• Record everything you can safely record. Video from inside Longoria's truck was described by a judge as "quite scary" and supported his case at the bond hearing.
• If agents come to your home without a warrant, do not open the door. Ask them to slide the warrant under the door or hold it up to a window so you can read it before letting anyone in.
• Contact an immigration lawyer immediately after any encounter with ICE or CBP — even if you are released. An attorney can help you prepare for a potential immigration bond hearing (a court hearing where a judge decides whether you can be released from detention while your case continues).

What to do, step by step — see our guide “Bond Hearing: How to Get Released”.