US Citizen Shot by ICE Officer Files $25 Million Federal Lawsuit
The case tests the legal boundaries of ICE enforcement authority when agents shoot and arrest a person who is later identified as a US citizen, raising questions about use-of-force protocols and...
Carlos Jimenez, a US citizen and father of three from Ontario, California, filed a $25 million lawsuit against the federal government on November 9, 2026, alleging he was wrongfully shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, wrongfully arrested, and subjected to what his complaint describes as a "malicious prosecution," according to The Guardian.
The incident occurred on October 30, 2025, at approximately 7:00 a.m. Near Ontario, a city located east of Los Angeles. Jimenez was driving to his job at a food pantry when he encountered ICE agents conducting an enforcement operation near a children's bus stop. The specific sequence of events that led the agent to discharge a firearm at Jimenez is detailed in the federal court filing, which is the operative public record in this matter.
Jimenez was pronounced a US citizen. The complaint alleges that agents proceeded with his arrest and that prosecutors continued with charges despite evidence of his citizenship status. The phrase "malicious prosecution" in the filing refers to a legal claim that government officials pursued charges without probable cause and with improper intent, a standard that requires the plaintiff to demonstrate the charges were resolved in his favor.
The lawsuit names the federal government as the defendant. Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, individuals may sue the United States for certain wrongful acts committed by federal employees acting within the scope of their employment. Damages in FTCA cases are determined by federal courts, and plaintiffs must first exhaust an administrative claims process before filing suit. Whether that process was completed is not specified in the available source material. The full administrative record, if any, would be held by the relevant agency and subject to public records requests.
ICE has not issued a public statement in response to the lawsuit as of the date of this publication. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has not released an after-action report on the October 30, 2025, incident. It is unknown whether an internal review was initiated. DHS Office of Inspector General reports, which are public documents, would be the standard source for any such review findings.
The case arrives during a period of elevated public attention to ICE enforcement operations. As previously reported by The Congressional Times, Trump immigration policies reduced farm labor supply in Kansas, and President Trump acknowledged immigration policy had been "Too Tough" following midterm election losses. The midterm results, in which Democrats won both chambers, have prompted legislative debate over the scope and conduct of federal immigration enforcement.
Use-of-force incidents involving federal immigration officers are governed by DHS Use of Force Policy, last publicly revised in 2014 and available through the DHS website. That policy requires officers to identify themselves, issue verbal warnings when feasible, and use force proportional to the threat presented. Whether those steps were followed on October 30, 2025, is not established in the public record available at the time of publication.
Federal civil rights attorneys not involved in the case note that wrongful shooting claims against federal officers can proceed under both the FTCA and, in some circumstances, under a Bivens action, a legal theory established by the Supreme Court in Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents (1971) that allows damages suits against individual federal officers for constitutional violations. The Supreme Court has narrowed Bivens claims significantly in subsequent rulings, most recently in Egbert v. Boule (2022), making the FTCA route the more common path for plaintiffs in immigration-related use-of-force cases.
The $25 million figure cited in the complaint represents the damages Jimenez is seeking. Federal courts are not bound by that figure and may award more or less based on evidence presented at trial. Settlements in FTCA cases involving law enforcement shootings vary widely. The Department of Justice Civil Division, which handles FTCA defense, would be the government entity responsible for responding to the complaint. The DOJ Civil Division is currently operating without a confirmed head following the resignation of Brett Shumate after the midterm elections, as reported by The Congressional Times.
What remains unknown: the specific details of the ICE operation underway at the time of the shooting, the precise legal charges Jimenez faced after his arrest, the current status of those charges, and whether any ICE officer involved has been placed on administrative leave or is the subject of an internal affairs review. The court docket for the federal lawsuit, once assigned a case number in the US District Court for the applicable California district, will be publicly accessible through the PACER federal court records system and will contain the full complaint, government response, and all subsequent filings.