A federal grand jury indicted two employees of an Ontario surgery center for allegedly assaulting and obstructing U.S. immigration officers attempting to detain a Honduran landscaper.
Jose de Jesus Ortega, 38, of Highland, and Danielle Nadine Davila, 33, of Corona, were charged Aug. 27 with one felony count of assaulting, resisting, and impeding a federal officer. Trial is set for Oct. 6.
According to the Justice Department, the incident occurred July 8 when two ICE officers, wearing law enforcement vests and operating an unmarked government vehicle, conducted roving immigration operations in Ontario. Video shows one officer wearing a black face covering, Patch reported.
The officers were pursuing three men in a truck when the vehicle made a quick turn into the parking lot of a surgery center in Ontario, according to the DOJ. The men exited the truck, and two fled, the DOJ noted in court papers.
One of the fleeing men, whom the Justice Department later identified as a Honduran national who was in the U.S. illegally, was “partially detained” near the surgery center’s front entrance “before he resisted and pulled away, causing both him and the ICE officer to fall to the ground,” the DOJ report said.
Moments later, a medical staffer assisted the Honduran man to his feet and pulled him away from the ICE officer. The man fled into the surgery center, where the officer followed and eventually stopped him.
Ortega and Davila, both of whom were dressed in medical scrubs, “impeded and interfered with the arrest,” the DOJ said, Davila by placing herself in between the officer and the illegal migrant. Video of the incident also showed her pushing the ICE officer while shouting, “Let him go!” and “Get out!”
Ortega then impeded the arrest by “grabbing the officer’s arm and then his vest,” the DOJ said.
According to the Justice Department, the ICE officer radioed for backup, and a second officer arrived to find multiple staff members restraining the first. The officers ultimately detained and handcuffed the Honduran man before escorting him from the surgery center.
At a news conference after their arrests, Ortega said staff had been told to request identification and warrants before allowing law enforcement into the facility.
If convicted, Ortega and Davila each face a maximum of up to eight years in federal prison.
ABC7 later reported the illegal migrant was arrested by ICE, then Andelanto detention facility, and later chose to self-deport.
One of the Supreme Court’s most liberal Justices, meanwhile, sided with the Trump administration in a deportation case.
Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan denied a request from four Mexican nationals who asked the court to block their deportation orders so they could file an appeal.
“The petitioners, Fabian Lagunas Espinoza, Maria Angelica Flores Ulloa, and their two sons, were ordered to report to immigration officials on Thursday. Their legal team argued they face cartel violence if returned to Mexico,” a report said.
“According to their court filing, the family fled Guerrero, Mexico, in 2021, after being threatened by the Los Rojos drug cartel. The petition stated that cartel members demanded the family vacate their home within 24 hours or be killed,” it said.
The family also shared details of violence against other family members in their appeal, which was denied by an immigration judge.
The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the decision in November 2023, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals validated the decision in February 2025.
“Petitioners face imminent removal and have been directed to report to immigration office on 4/17/2025, despite credible and detailed testimony and documentary evidence showing they are targets of cartel violence due to their family ties and refusal to comply with extortion demands,” LeRoy George, an attorney for the migrants, said in a petition to the court.
Kagan could have acted to keep the migrants in the United States or referred the case to the entire Supreme Court, choosing the former in denying the appeal without comment.