U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents forcibly detained a 30-year-old undocumented migrant on Tuesday after he sought refuge inside a medical clinic.
Denis Guillen-Solis, 30, was working on the landscape outside the Ontario Advanced Surgery Center in Ontario, California, with two other men suspected of being undocumented, when ICE agents arrived to execute an arrest warrant.
Upon noticing the officers, Guillen-Solis attempted to flee, running into the medical facility in search of safety.
The federal immigration agents then followed him inside, where a tense and chaotic scene unfolded.
In footage of the incident, medical staff, some wearing scrubs, are seen and heard telling the agents they were on private property without proper authorization and insisting that they let Guillen-Solis go.
The two ICE agents, both with faces covered, attempted to pull Guillen-Solis from a doorway inside the clinic as he clung to the doorframe, sobbing and resisting.
Staff repeatedly asked the agents for identification, a badge, or a warrant, but according to witnesses, who claim none was provided.
Javier Hernandez, a member of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice – an organization advocating for the rights of immigrants – told KTLA that the agents never identified themselves.
Denis Guillen-Solis, 30, had been landscaping outside the Ontario Advanced Surgery Center alongside two other alleged undocumented men when ICE agents arrived to serve an arrest warrant. Pictured: ICE agents forcibly detain Denis Guillen-Solis inside the California medical center
In a video of the confrontation, medical staff, some in scrubs, can be seen and heard telling the agents they were trespassing on private property without a warrant and demanding that they release Guillen-Solis (pictured in grey)
‘They basically just started running after him,’ Hernandez said. ‘[Solis] then ran inside of the clinic where they were working to seek shelter.’
In a statement issued after the incident, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused clinic staff of assaulting federal officers and dragging both an agent and Guillen-Solis into the facility, CBS News reported.
McLaughlin also alleged that staff locked doors, blocked law enforcement vehicles, and called local police claiming a kidnapping was in progress – actions she described as attempts to obstruct the arrest.
Hernandez disputed those claims, defending the clinic employees’ actions as lawful and ethical.
Javier Hernandez (pictured), a member of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice – an organization advocating for the rights of immigrants – told KTLA that the agents never identified themselves
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin (pictured) accused clinic staff of assaulting federal officers and dragging both an agent and Guillen-Solis into the facility
‘They were doing their job, they were protecting themselves, they were exercising their rights to ask who these gentlemen were,’ he said.
‘They did not impede them from leaving.’
Hernandez added that Guillen-Solis has lived in the U.S. for the past three years, working as a landscaper to send money home to support his ailing mother in Honduras.
Since his detention, he has reportedly been allowed only one phone call to family members.
‘People are getting abducted,’ Hernandez said. ‘We lose them for two, three days, maybe a week or two, and we don’t know where they are at. That is not normal and we should be fighting back.’
No one from the surgery center was taken into custody. It remains unclear whether any charges will be filed against clinic staff.
As for Solis, whose family has organized a GoFundMe to help with the cost of legal fees, he is being held downtown at the federal detention center, according to KTLA.
