DOJ prosecuted four cases of assault on an agent by migrants this year

The federal government is prosecuting migrants who attacked U.S. Border Patrol officers while resisting arrest along the Mexico-New Mexico border earlier this year, the Department of Justice district in the state announced Wednesday.

This year there have been four case of assault on U.S. Border Patrol officers by migrants in New Mexico, according to the release. The release said assaults on agents are “rising,” although it is unclear how many assaults occurred in 2023 and how much or if the number of incidents has changed.

The Journal reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice’s New Mexico office for clarification and received no reply.

Two migrants pleaded guilty to the charge of assaulting a federal agent.

One was Edwin Esau Fuentes-Galea of El Salvador, who was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison after resisting arrest near Santa Teresa. According to the complaint, an unnamed Border Patrol agent responded to a call of migrants crossing the border on an all-terrain vehicle on Jan. 26. The group scattered, and the agent tackled Fuentes-Galea.

Fuentes-Galea threw sand in the agent’s eyes and bit the agent hard enough to leave a “visible injury” before he was detained.

According to court documents:

Erika Jasmin Lobato-Melendez, a Salvadoran woman, also pleaded guilty and faces up to eight years in prison. Lobato-Melendez, accompanied by a man, her child and two nephews, was approached by an agent near the U.S. border wall on May 29.

The unidentified agent told Lobato-Melendez that she didn’t want to forcibly arrest Lobato-Melendez in front of the children, but with another agent tackled Lobato-Melendez after she refused to comply. Lobato-Melendez then bit the agent on the arm and leg during the struggle.

Ricardo Prieto-Simental, 25, of Mexico, was traveling alone in the Cristo Rey Mountain area, near Sunland Park, when he was spotted by an agent on Sept. 19. The agent pursued Prieto-Simental on foot and tackled him after he resisted arrest. Prieto-Simental kicked, punched and disabled the agent’s radio before being detained.

Prieto-Simental has been detained as he awaits trial.

On Sept. 26, Enrique Rodriguez-Salazar, 26, of Mexico, threw sand at an agent near Santa Teresa as he fled. The agent then tasered and detained Rodriguez-Salazar, who has been detained.