Venezuelan migrant accused o officer assault, grabbing gun, evading arrest

The Justice Department this week filed criminal charges against a Venezuelan national accused of assaulting a federal officer and seizing and possessing the officer’s firearm while resisting arrest outside a business earlier this month.

Law enforcement officers assigned to the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Task Force, or HSTF, initiated surveillance near a business in Utica, Michigan, after receiving information that people living in the United States illegally were working as delivery drivers at the facility.

Agents observed a vehicle registered to 33-year-old Arnoldo Jose Marquez-Pulido leaving the parking lot, where they determined he was in the country illegally, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

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After agents attempted a routine traffic stop, the man, Marquez-Pulido, briefly pulled over before fleeing from officers “at a high rate of speed,” authorities said.

He then returned to the workplace, where he fled on foot, the criminal complaint alleges.

The HSTF agent began tackling Marquez-Pulido after the agent allegedly ignored commands to stop and attempted to enter the business, the Department of Justice said in a press release.

During the struggle, Marquez-Pulido is accused of striking the agent in the face with his elbow and reaching for the agent’s service weapon, identified as a “Glock 19” pistol. Prosecutors said he was able to remove the firearm from the agent’s holster and use it briefly before losing control as the agent regained influence.

Additional officers responded and retrieved the gun from the ground. Authorities say Marquez-Pulido continued to resist before being restrained.

The agent suffered a contusion on his elbow, abrasions on his knees and hands and a contusion on his cheek, authorities said. A second agent sustained a knee injury. Both were treated at the hospital and released.

He was scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court in Detroit this week, but prosecutors said they would seek to keep him in custody until further proceedings.

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This June 19, 2025 photo shows California residents and federal and Border Patrol agents. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Marquez-Pulido is believed to have entered the United States in 2024 at the San Ysidro, California port of entry without a visa or valid travel documents.

Federal prosecutors said the allegations against the Venezuelan national underscore the dangers some police officers face as they try to tighten border security and enforce the tough immigration enforcement agenda prioritized by President Donald Trump in his second White House term.

“Some say it is unfair to enforce our nation’s immigration laws because illegal aliens are all harmless,” U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon of the Eastern District of Michigan said in a statement. he said. “Today’s allegations disrupt that narrative.”

“Escaping at high speed after arrest, fighting federal agents, and seizing an agent’s gun are not ‘harmless,'” he added. “And what’s ‘unfair’ is that Americans are paying the price for dangerous illegal aliens.”

The news came as DHS officials and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said attacks on officers had increased sharply and vowed to pursue people accused of violence against law enforcement.

A criminal complaint is a plea and Marquez-Pulido is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

The incident comes as Senate lawmakers remain sharply divided over how exactly to fund DHS and end the shutdown, which extended into its 27th day on Thursday.

Immigration enforcement has emerged as a major sticking point, especially for Democrats; as Democrats continue to wrestle with the details of a bill that would fully fund the sprawling federal agency.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DY, during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 3, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-Y) said Thursday that he and most Democrats in the chamber are willing to fund “most of DHS,” including TSA, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FEMA, Coast Guard, but not Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or CBP.

Schumer, for his part, accused House Republicans of blocking the bill over disagreements over immigration, prompting a heated exchange with the Senate Majority Leader. John Thune, R.S.D.

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“I assume the Democratic leader is aware of the fact that we have tried over and over again to finance everything temporarily To allow negotiations on the ICE budget to continue,” Thune responded.

Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller contributed to this report.