A Californian man and his family are seeking justice after a terrifying encounter with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in August 2023, which they say involved being shot at, wrongfully arrested, and subsequently detained. Francisco Longoria, a party supply business owner, was driving his truck with his son and son-in-law in San Bernardino when they were suddenly stopped by three unmarked vehicles. Four masked men, later identified as federal agents, emerged with guns drawn.
Longoria recounted the harrowing experience, stating that the agents did not identify themselves and lacked a warrant when they attempted to open his truck door and demanded he lower his window. When he did not comply, an agent allegedly smashed his window, striking him in the face, while another broke the front passenger window. Fearing for their lives, Longoria drove away, at which point an agent reportedly fired three rounds, leaving two bullet holes in the passenger side of the vehicle, one narrowly missing the back window.
The incident, which lasted less than a minute, quickly escalated. Upon returning home, Longoria called the police to report the shooting, only to find himself the target of a government investigation. This culminated in a night-time ambush of his home, a felony charge accusing him of weaponising his vehicle against officers, and months spent in ICE detention. The case against him was eventually dropped, but the trauma for the family endures.
Now, Longoria and his family have filed a lawsuit against the federal government and the officers involved. They are seeking damages for physical injury, psychological injuries including PTSD, lost wages, property damages, wrongful incarceration, public humiliation, and reputational harm. The lawsuit alleges that the officer attempted to kill them by firing shots, a direct violation of CBP's use of force policy, which generally prohibits shooting at a fleeing vehicle unless deadly force is being used against agents or others.
Furthermore, the lawsuit claims the officers violated a temporary restraining order issued by a California judge, which prohibited targeting individuals solely based on race, language, or occupation. Longoria suspects the incident was a case of racial profiling, given the tense atmosphere in their predominantly Latino neighbourhood and the aggressive immigration raids ordered by the Trump administration at the time. The family remains deeply traumatised by their ordeal, with Longoria stating, "What I have lived through, I don't wish that upon others."