The Justice Department has embarked on a months-long effort to prosecute people accused of assaulting federal officers while protesting President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Attorney General Pam Bondi has vowed such offenders will face “severe consequences.
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Defining what it is can be a challengeLos Oscar se trasladarán a YouTube en 2029, dejando su hogar de años en ABCA protester is detained outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Portland, Ore. Police and federal officers deploy gas canisters to disperse protesters near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore. on Oct. 5, 2025. California National Guard are positioned at the Federal Building on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in downtown Los Angeles. A protester is detained outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Portland, Ore. A protester is detained outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Portland, Ore. Police and federal officers deploy gas canisters to disperse protesters near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore. on Oct. 5, 2025. Police and federal officers deploy gas canisters to disperse protesters near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore. on Oct. 5, 2025. California National Guard are positioned at the Federal Building on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in downtown Los Angeles. California National Guard are positioned at the Federal Building on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in downtown Los Angeles. In a review of scores of criminal prosecutions brought by federal prosecutors, The Associated Press found that the Justice Department has struggled to deliver on Bondi’s pledge. An analysis of 166 federal criminal cases brought since May against people in four Democratic-led cities at the epicenter of demonstrations found that aggressive charging decisions and“It’s clear from this data that the government is being extremely aggressive and charging for things that ordinarily wouldn’t be charged at all,” said Mary McCord, a former federal prosecutor who is the director of Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy. “They appear to want to chill people from protesting against the administration’s mass deportation plans.”Of 100 people initially charged with felony assaults on federal agents, 55 saw their charges reduced to misdemeanors, or dismissed. Sometimes prosecutors failed to win grand jury indictments required to prosecute someone on a felony, the AP found. Videos and testimony called into question some of the initial allegations, resulting in prosecutors downgrading offenses. In dozens of cases, officers suffered minor or no injuries, undercutting a key component of the felony assault charge that requires the potential for serious bodily harm. One of the cases was against Dana Briggs, a 70-year-old Air Force veteran charged in September with assault after a protest in Chicago. After video footage emerged of federal agents knocking Briggs to the ground, prosecutors dropped a case they had already reduced to a misdemeanor. Another case dropped by prosecutors was against 28-year-old Lucy Shepherd, who was charged with felony assault after she batted away the arm of a federal officer who was attempting to clear a crowd outside Portland’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. Her lawyers argued a video of her arrest showed she brushed aside an officer with “too little force to have been intended to inflict any kind of injury.” A Justice Department spokesperson said it will continue to seek the most serious available charges against those alleged to have put federal agents in harm’s way. “We will not tolerate any violence directed toward our brave law enforcement officials who are working tirelessly to keep Americans safe,” said Natalie Baldassarre, a DOJ spokesperson.The administration has deployed — or sought to deploy — troops to the four cities where AP examined the criminal cases: Washington, D.C, Los Angeles,and Chicago. Trump and his administration have sought to justify the military deployments, in part, by painting immigration protesters as “antifa,” which the president hasShort for “anti-fascists,” antifa is an umbrella term for far-left-leaning protesters who confront or resist white supremacists, sometimes clashing with law enforcement. The AP’s review found a handful of references to “antifa” in court records in the cases it reviewed. The review found no case in which federal authorities officially accused a protester of being a “domestic terrorist” or part of an organized effort to attack federal agents.Experts said they were surprised the Justice Department took five misdemeanor cases to trial, given that such trials eat up resources. They were further shocked that DOJ lost all those trials. “When the DOJ tries to take a swing at someone, they should hit 99.9% of the time. And that’s not happening,” said Ronald Chapman II, a defense attorney who practices extensively in federal court. The highest-profile loss involved Sean Charles Dunn, a Washington, D.C., man who tossed a Subway-style sandwich at a Border Patrol agent he had berated as a “fascist.” Dunn was acquitted Nov. 6 after a two-day trial. In Los Angeles, 32-year-old Katherine Carreño was acquitted on a misdemeanor assault charge stemming from an August protest outside a federal building. Prosecutors had alleged she ignored an officer’s commands to move out of the way of a government vehicle and “raised her hand and brought it down in a slapping/chopping motion” onto the officer’s arm. Social media video shown to jurors raised doubts about that narrative, showing an officer striding toward Carreño and pushing her back.Prosecutors have secured felony indictments against 58 people, some of whom were initially charged with misdemeanors. They are accused of assaulting federal officers in several ways, including by hurling rocks and projectiles, punching or kicking them and shooting them with paintballs. None have yet to go to trial. From the start of Trump’s second term through Nov. 24, the Department of Homeland Security says there have been 238 assaults on ICE personnel nationwide. The agency declined to provide its list or details about how it defines assaults. “Rioters and other violent criminals have threatened our law enforcement officers, thrown rocks, bottles, and fireworks at them, slashed the tires of their vehicles, rammed them, ambushed them, and even shot at them,” said Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.Foley covers national news for The Associated Press and is based in Iowa City, Iowa. A 21-year AP veteran, he was part of the AP team honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting for the 2024 series, “Lethal Restraint.”Ding covers California breaking news for The Associated Press. She focuses on law enforcement and the courts, and is based in Los Angeles.Biesecker is a global investigative reporter for The Associated Press, based in Washington. He reports on a wide range of topics, including human conflict, climate change and political corruption.
Pam Bondi Donald Trump General News Protests And Demonstrations Associated Press Law Enforcement Terrorism U.S. Department Of Justice Immigration Illinois IL State Wire Local News For Apple Oregon DC Wire OR State Wire California District Of Columbia Assault Natalie Baldassarre Indictments Los Angeles Legal Proceedings Lucy Shepherd Tricia Mclaughlin Government And Politics Ronald Chapman II Washington News Courts U.S. News Portland Sexual Assault Katherine Carreo Chicago Trials Dana Briggs Politics U.S. News Washington News
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