ARLINGTON, VA — Five members of Virginia's congressional delegation are backing an Arlington County police investigation into an Aug. 11 encounter with federal immigration officers that left José Mejía Hernandez hospitalized with a reported traumatic brain injury.
U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner and Reps. Suhas Subramanyam and James Walkinshaw issued a joint statement Friday welcoming the investigation by the Arlington County Police Department.
"We strongly support the Arlington County Police Department's decision to open this investigation, which is essential to establishing how José Mejía Hernandez suffered serious injuries," the lawmakers said.
Mejía Hernandez and his attorneys had previously asked Arlington police to investigate whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents or the driver of a federal vehicle committed a crime during his arrest.
The lawmakers said Mejía Hernandez suffered internal bleeding and a brain injury after his encounter with ICE agents.
"It is unfortunate that the Trump Administration has abandoned its responsibilities to hold federal agents under their command accountable, leaving state and local jurisdictions to do the job the Administration refuses to do to maintain law and order and protect the public," they said.
The lawmakers characterized the issue as part of what they called a broader pattern of violence and civil rights violations involving federal immigration enforcement.
"If this investigation finds that ICE agents' misconduct caused Mr. Mejía Hernandez' injuries or impeded his medical treatment, they must face consequences," the lawmakers said. "We will continue seeking answers about what happened to Mr. Mejía Hernandez in Arlington, and working to ensure he receives access to the medical care and support he needs to recover."
Mejía Hernandez appeared at Arlington County Police Department headquarters Aug. 28 with attorneys Denisse Gastélum and Carlos Jurado to request that police take a criminal incident report and investigate the circumstances surrounding his arrest.
His attorneys delivered a letter to Arlington Police Chief Charles Penn and provided police with video recorded by a civilian witness after the encounter.
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According to the attorneys, the video shows Mejía Hernandez on the ground beside a government vehicle with blood on his face. The recording does not show how his injuries occurred.
Arlington police confirmed at the time that Mejía Hernandez had filed a report alleging possible violations of Virginia law, including aggravated malicious wounding, malicious wounding, failure of a driver involved in an accident to stop, reckless driving and assault and battery.
Police said the allegations stemmed from the Aug. 11 encounter along Columbia Pike involving federal immigration officers and that an investigation into the circumstances was ongoing.
Mejía Hernandez's attorneys said he was walking from his Arlington home to a bus stop on his way to work when two vehicles stopped near him.
Two men wearing plain clothes, vests and baseball caps got out, according to the attorneys. They said the men did not display credentials that Mejía Hernandez could see or identify themselves as law enforcement in a way he understood.
"Frightened, Mr. Mejia Hernandez moved away from them on foot," his attorneys wrote in their letter to police.
Civilian witnesses told the attorneys that one of the vehicles struck Mejía Hernandez and that he was later found on the ground bleeding heavily from his face.
RELATED: Leaders Demand Answers After Arlington Man Reports Serious Injuries In ICE Encounter
That account has not been established by police, and the video provided by the attorneys does not show the moment Mejía Hernandez was injured.
His attorneys said Mejía Hernandez does not remember what happened between moving away from the men and regaining awareness at George Washington University Hospital.
They said his injuries included intracranial bleeding, brain swelling and extensive facial trauma and that he has required continuing medical care.
The attorneys asked police to examine the federal vehicles for possible impact damage and other physical evidence and to obtain vehicle-location data, body-camera footage, electronic-control-device records, radio traffic, federal operational records, medical records and nearby surveillance video.
They said investigators should examine possible offenses ranging from reckless driving and assault to malicious wounding and determine whether the evidence supports investigating attempted murder.
The attorneys emphasized that they were asking police to investigate those possibilities, not asserting that a crime had been established.
"We do not ask the Department to reach a conclusion today," they wrote. "We ask that it investigate."
The Department of Homeland Security has disputed key portions of Mejía Hernandez's account.
After Patch sought updated information Aug. 28, DHS provided a statement nearly identical to one it had issued earlier in the month.
The agency said ICE officers arrested Mejía Hernandez after he attempted to flee and used "necessary force to gain control of the situation."
DHS said officers rendered aid, found Mejía Hernandez responsive and later took him to a hospital as a precaution.
"Allegations that he was unconscious and woke up in a hospital bed are FALSE," a DHS spokesperson said.
DHS said Mejía Hernandez entered the United States illegally in 2006, accepted a voluntary return to Mexico and reentered the country in 2008. The agency also said he was convicted of public intoxication in Fairfax County in 2020.
He was later released from ICE custody with GPS monitoring while removal proceedings remained pending.
DHS said ICE temporarily removed Mejía Hernandez's ankle monitor Aug. 19 and installed SmartLINK software on his cellphone so that he could undergo a medical procedure.
Mejía Hernandez's attorneys also notified ICE and DHS that he intends to file an administrative claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act and pursue other civil remedies.
They asked the agencies to preserve vehicles, recordings, communications, GPS information, medical-response records and other potential evidence.
Arlington County Commonwealth's Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti previously called for a police investigation into the encounter, saying reports about Mejía Hernandez's injuries were "deeply disturbing."
"No one is above the law — not any individual, not law enforcement, and not federal officials — no one," she said.
Friday's statement from the Virginia lawmakers marks the latest call for scrutiny of the Aug. 11 encounter as Arlington police continue investigating how Mejía Hernandez suffered his injuries.
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