Federal prosecutors are pursuing a case against a Cuban national for allegedly assaulting immigration agents in St. Paul, but the government’s own evidence is beginning to fracture. Court filings reveal significant contradictions between the public narrative pushed by the Department of Homeland Security and the private interviews given by the agents involved in the December 21 incident.
Juan Carlos Rodriguez Romero, an asylum seeker, now faces three federal felony charges that could carry a sentence of more than 20 years in prison. The charges stem from a chaotic encounter during the early stages of Operation Metro Surge, a concentrated immigration enforcement effort in Minnesota. While the government claims Romero used his vehicle as a weapon, testimony from the agents on the scene suggests a different sequence of events—one where the shots were fired before any collision occurred.
The ICE shooting of Juan Carlos Rodriguez Romero has become a focal point for critics of federal immigration tactics, particularly regarding the agency’s practice of firing at moving vehicles and the accuracy of its initial public reports.
A Timeline of the December 21 Encounter
The incident began four days before Christmas on the icy roads of St. Paul. Rodriguez Romero was leaving his apartment complex to begin a DoorDash shift when he was signaled to pull over by agents in two vehicles: a blue Ford Expedition and a white Dodge Durango. The agents had run his license plate and determined he was a Cuban national with a pending asylum case.
According to court records, Rodriguez Romero initially pulled over but refused to exit his white Toyota 4Runner. After agents threatened to break his window, he drove away, leading to a pursuit that ended back in his apartment parking lot. After hitting two parked cars and coming to a stop, he attempted to drive toward the apartment’s main entrance. At that moment, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fired two shots at the vehicle.
The encounter ended when Rodriguez Romero ran into his apartment building, where he was apprehended and transported to the Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling. He is currently charged with two counts of assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon and one count of assault for allegedly biting an officer during his arrest.
Public Narrative vs. Agent Testimony
The discrepancy between the official government account and the evidence presented in court centers on when the shots were fired and whether agents were actually struck by the vehicle. At 7:22 p.m. On the day of the arrest, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Romero had rammed an ICE vehicle and struck an officer, prompting the officer to fire “defensively.”
However, filings from Rodriguez Romero’s attorney, Bruce Nestor, indicate that the agents’ own interviews tell a different story. Five of the six agents on the scene stated that the shots were fired before the collision between the federal vehicles and the 4Runner. Only one agent described the ramming occurring before the gunfire.
The claim that an officer was struck during the initial stop is also contested. While one agent reported seeing a colleague “staggering” after being hit, the officer allegedly struck, Ibanez, was not interviewed until February. He later stated that a side-view mirror had hit his shoulder, causing a pain level of 3 out of 10.
the cause of the final collision remains a point of contention. The government asserts that Rodriguez Romero reversed into a Durango before ramming into an Expedition. Conversely, two agents in the Durango reported that their own vehicle struck the 4Runner from behind, pushing it into the other federal car.
Comparison of Reported Events
| Detail | DHS Public Statement (X) | Agent Interviews/Court Filings |
|---|---|---|
| Timing of Shots | Fired after officer was struck | 5 of 6 agents say shots fired before collision |
| Initial Impact | Officer hit during first stop | Agent Morales said car “almost hit” partner |
| Cause of Collision | Defendant rammed vehicles | Two agents say Durango struck defendant from behind |
A Pattern of Contradicted Accounts
The inconsistencies in the Rodriguez Romero case mirror several other high-profile incidents involving ICE agents in the Midwest and West Coast. In Chicago, the government previously labeled Marimar Martinez a “domestic terrorist” after an agent fired five shots at her car, claiming she had ambushed officers. Charges were dropped six weeks later after bodycam footage showed agents swerving into her vehicle before opening fire.
Similar patterns emerged in Minneapolis. In January, ICE officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Quality in her car. This was part of a series of nine shootings by immigration officers in four months, all involving vehicles. In another instance involving Julio Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Aljorna, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped assault charges after surveillance footage proved agent statements were false.
The practice of firing at moving vehicles is widely discouraged or prohibited by police policy in most major U.S. Cities. U.S. District Judge Sarah Ellis previously noted in a ruling that some ICE footage suggested agents had “brake-checked” motorists to force accidents that could then be used to justify the use of force.
Disclaimer: This report involves ongoing legal proceedings. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The case against Juan Carlos Rodriguez Romero continues to move through the federal court system. The next critical phase will involve the presentation of the government’s physical evidence, including the hand-drawn maps and aftermath photos, as the defense continues to challenge the credibility of the agent testimonies.
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