Two men face charges in North Carolina after authorities say they used their vehicles to ram into ICE and Border Patrol agents who were taking part in President Trump’s latest immigration surge in Charlotte.
One man, Miguel Angel Garcia Martinez, told agents he was part of a private social media network that attempts to track and post the whereabouts of Border Patrol personnel.
Agents said he had been dogging federal officers at several points on Sunday, using his white sprinter van.
When the agents tried to confront him to warn him to stop “impeding” them, he fled in the van, swerving in traffic. At one point he drove into the side of a government Ford Expedition manned by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to court documents.
He continued to flee before finally being boxed in by federal law enforcement vehicles, and agents broke his window to remove him, the papers state.
The second man was arrested a day later, on Monday.
Agents said Cristobal Maltos was bird-dogging them in a Honda Civic.
When they first tried to confront him, he fled. After seeing him again they set up a roadblock and stopped him, then agents on foot surrounded his vehicle and told him to lower his window.
At some point, the vehicle lurched forward and the side mirror struck one officer.
Officers smashed the window to extract Mr. Maltos.
He later told FBI agents he was in shock and was trying to get away, but did not admit to hitting the officer.
Homeland Security has announced Charlotte as its latest target for an enforcement surge, after Los Angeles and Chicago.
The effort, which began over the weekend and was dubbed Operation Charlotte’s Web, netted 130 illegal immigrants in its first two days, the department said.
Homeland Security said the city is a sanctuary jurisdiction, which has drawn illegal immigrants to it.
Also Tuesday, ICE reported another assault by an illegal immigrant from Turkey who shouted “Allahu akbar” as he tried to resist arrest in New York.
Officers said they had to scuffle to get him out of his vehicle and eventually took him to the ground where they threatened to tase him.
He tried to grab one of the tasers, so another officer tased him.
ICE said the man, Saim Irgi, 39, snuck across the U.S.-Mexico border in 2023 and was caught and released by the Biden administration “without any vetting.”
In March he was charged in New Jersey with simple assault. The charged was dismissed in April, but that same day he was arrested in Philadelphia on charges of strangulation, simple assault and reckless endangering.
