Lawyers Seek Arlington Police Investigation Of ICE Arrest That Injured Man

ARLINGTON, VA — An Arlington man who suffered a traumatic brain injury during an arrest by federal immigration officers asked county police Friday to investigate whether the agents or the driver of a government vehicle committed a crime.

Jose Mejia Hernandez appeared at Arlington County Police Department headquarters Friday to request that officers take a criminal incident report and open an investigation, according to his attorneys, Denisse Gastélum and Carlos Jurado.

Together, they delivered a letter to Chief Charles Penn, detailing the reasons behind their request. A copy of the letter was shared with Patch.

The lawyers said they provided police with video recorded by a civilian witness after the Aug. 11 encounter. According to the letter, the video shows Mejia Hernandez on the ground beside a government vehicle with blood on his face and shows the officers’ conduct afterward. The letter does not say the recording captured the moment he was injured.

Lawyers And DHS Give Conflicting Accounts

Mejia Hernandez was walking from his Arlington home to a bus stop on his way to work when two vehicles stopped near him, according to his attorneys. Two men wearing plain clothes, vests and a baseball cap got out.

The men did not display credentials that Mejia Hernandez could see or identify themselves as law enforcement in a way he understood, the lawyers said.

"Frightened, Mr. Mejia Hernandez moved away from them on foot," the letter to Penn said.

Civilian witnesses told the lawyers that one of the vehicles struck Mejia Hernandez and that he was found on the ground bleeding heavily from his face, according to the police request. The attorneys said Mejia Hernandez does not remember what happened between moving away from the men and regaining awareness in a Washington, D.C., hospital.

His injuries included intracranial bleeding, brain swelling and extensive facial trauma, the lawyers said. He received treatment at George Washington University Hospital and has required continuing medical care.

Patch contacted ICE on Friday seeking updated information about the case. A short time later, the agency responded with a statement that was nearly identical to the one it provided Aug. 19 concerning the Aug. 11 arrest.

The Department of Homeland Security said ICE officers arrested Mejia Hernandez after he attempted to flee and used “necessary force to gain control of the situation.” The agency said officers rendered aid, found him 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.

The DHS said Mejia 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 and was released from ICE custody with GPS monitoring while his removal proceedings remained pending.

The updated statement said ICE temporarily removed Mejia Hernandez’s ankle monitor Aug. 19 and installed SmartLINK software on his cellphone so he could complete a medical procedure. The agency’s earlier response described the process for requesting temporary removal but did not say whether it had occurred.

ICE also repeated its call for undocumented immigrants to leave the United States using the CBP Home app. The updated statement said the federal government was offering $3,000 and a free flight to people who self-deport, an increase from the $2,600 cited in ICE’s Aug. 19 response.

Attorneys Seek Evidence Preservation

Mejia Hernandez’s attorneys asked Arlington police to assign a detective, provide a case number and refer the matter to the Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. They also requested a written response within 10 days confirming whether police opened an investigation.

The letter asks police to examine the federal vehicles at the scene for impact damage and physical evidence. The lawyers also want investigators to obtain vehicle location data, body-camera recordings, electronic-control-device records, radio traffic, federal operational records, medical documents and private surveillance video from the surrounding area.

The attorneys asked police to investigate possible offenses ranging from reckless driving and assault to malicious wounding. They also said the evidence should be reviewed to determine whether it supports an attempted murder investigation.

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Those are allegations and requested areas of investigation. The documents do not indicate that an officer has been charged or that law enforcement has determined a crime occurred.

“We do not ask the Department to reach a conclusion today,” the attorneys wrote. “We ask that it investigate.”

A spokeswoman with Arlington County police confirmed on Friday that Mejia Hernandez had filed a police report alleging violations of the Virginia Code, including aggravated malicious wounding (§ 18.2-51.2), malicious wounding (§ 18.2-51), failure of driver in accident to stop (§ 46.2-894), reckless driving (§46.2-852/853), and assault and battery (§18.2-57). The allegations stemmed from the Aug. 11 incident along Columbia Pike involving federal immigration officers. The investigation into the circumstances of the incident is ongoing, police said.

In a separate Aug. 26 letter, Gastélum notified ICE and the DHS that Mejia Hernandez intends to file an administrative claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act and pursue other civil remedies.

The litigation-hold letter asks the federal agencies to preserve vehicles, recordings, communications, GPS-monitoring information, medical-response records, personnel files and other evidence. It requests written confirmation within 14 days that automatic deletion and overwriting have been suspended.

The lawyers also submitted a separate request asking Arlington police to certify Mejia Hernandez as the victim of qualifying criminal activity for a potential U visa application. They said he is willing to be interviewed, identify witnesses and provide medical records and other evidence. The final decision on immigration status would remain with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The dispute comes amid heightened concern over immigration enforcement in Northern Virginia. During a regional summit Wednesday in Arlington, County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti and other local leaders said federal enforcement tactics were driving some immigrant residents into hiding and undermining trust in local institutions.

The DHS, meanwhile, said ICE arrested 1,328 people in Virginia and Maryland during an enforcement operation conducted from Aug. 1 through Aug. 14. Almost 400 had been convicted of or charged with crimes in the United States, according to the agency.