Investigation Finds 15 Federal Immigration Agent Vehicle Shootings Since July

An MS Now investigation finds that federal immigration agents with ICE and Border Patrol have shot at people in vehicles at least 15 times since July 2025, most often in Democratic-led "sanctuary" jurisdictions targeted by President Trump’s interior-enforcement surge. In one August case in San Bernardino, California, masked agents in unmarked cars smashed the window of Francisco Longoria’s truck and opened fire as he drove away with his teenage son, after DHS claimed he rammed agents — a narrative later undercut by video showing no officers in his path and by DOJ’s admission in court that there was no lawful basis for the stop or evidence of injured agents, leading prosecutors to drop the case. Across the 15 incidents, agents have consistently asserted that drivers "weaponized" their vehicles and tried to run them over, but at least four of eight resulting criminal prosecutions have been dismissed or abandoned, several others have led only to deportation proceedings, and two civilians were killed without any criminal charges ever being filed. Defense lawyers and civil-rights advocates say these shootings reflect a dangerous escalation of already problematic U.S. policing practices, now carried out by federal immigration officers reassigned to roving urban patrols with little transparency about their training, identification or rules of engagement. The pattern is fueling growing concern that federal narratives of self-defense are being accepted and amplified before evidence is tested, even as videos and court records increasingly contradict official accounts in multiple cities.