Trump Administration Dropped or Lost Hundreds of Cases Against Anti-ICE Protesters and Migrants: Report

The Trump administration has seen hundreds of cases dismissed, lost at trial or dropped after accusing anti-ICE demonstrators and migrants of assaulting federal immigration officers, according to a report.

A New York Times analysis found that 558 people were charged in such cases. Of those, 191 cases were dismissed and 22 defendants were acquitted. Just four people were convicted after a trial, while 246 pleaded guilty and 95 cases remain pending.

The newspaper noted that the Justice Department generally sees more than 90% of defendants either plead guilty or be convicted at trial. In these cases, the Trump administration has relied heavily on 18 U.S.C. 111, a federal statute that criminalizes assaulting or forcibly impeding a government officer and allows penalties ranging from a fine to as much as 20 years in prison, the report said.

INC News contacted the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department seeking comment.

DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis told The New York Times that “it should come as no surprise that there’s an increase in criminal referrals under 18 U.S.C. 111 as there’s been a massive increase in violence and threats against federal law enforcement.”

Justice Department spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said federal prosecutors were right to prioritize the cases and seek accountability “to the fullest extent of the law,” while noting that prosecutors have sometimes reduced or dismissed charges because of “mitigating factors identified in a case.”

The New York Times cited another Justice Department official as saying that prosecutors in some of the cases dropped charges when the defendants were deported from the United States.

The newspaper said it based its analysis on court filings, hearing transcripts, videos of encounters and interviews with witnesses and federal officials.

It reported that in dozens of the cases that were lost or abandoned, court records and video showed that federal agents initiated physical struggles, such as shoving, tackling and pepper spraying defendants. Other defendants were able to successfully argue that the assaults they were accused of committing against the federal agents were acts of self-defense, the newspaper added.

Two of the judges overseeing the cases discovered agents purposely destroyed evidence, including demanding that a defendant delete images from their cellphone, according to The New York Times.

Officers also charged more than two dozen people who allegedly filmed or followed agents, sometimes honking car horns or shouting phrases like, “La migra is coming!,” despite no allegations of physical contact with agents, the newspaper reported.

In one case, a judge dismissed assault charges against an immigrant after ruling that the agent involved was cut by glass from a car window that the agent had smashed, and in 65 instances, prosecutors abandoned or dropped charges before deadlines to present evidence to a grand jury or judge, the New York Times also said.

The report did note one occasion when federal immigration officers were seriously hurt by protesters and migrants, including the dragging of an officer who had his arm inside a car window.