Two California surgery center employees ended up facing federal charges after allegedly intervening when ICE agents pursued a fleeing immigration suspect into their workplace. The July 2025 confrontation produced video of medical staff demanding that an officer release the man and leave the building. Federal authorities subsequently arrested Jose de Jesus Ortega and Danielle Nadine Davila. Prosecutors accused the pair of making physical contact with an officer attempting to complete the detention.
The encounter occurred July 8th, 2025, at Ontario Advanced Surgery Center in San Bernardino County. Officers were pursuing Denis Guillen-Solis, a Honduran landscaper whom immigration authorities identified as being in the country illegally. Footage showed employees in blue scrubs confronting a masked immigration officer wearing a protective vest. One employee demanded a warrant while standing between the officer and the man he was attempting to detain.
“Get your hands off of him. You don’t even have a warrant,” a staff member said in the recording, according to the AP’s contemporaneous account. The employee continued, “Let him go. You need to get out.” Agents eventually took Guillen-Solis into custody following the confrontation inside the facility. The footage subsequently circulated online.
Following the confrontation documented by The Associated Press, the Justice Department’s July 25th announcement detailed the allegations against the employees. According to the complaint affidavit, two officers followed a truck carrying three men into the facility’s parking lot. Two men fled after officers approached. Prosecutors alleged that the Honduran man pulled away during an attempted detention near the entrance, causing him and an officer to fall, before a staff member helped him up and away from the officer.
Prosecutors alleged that Davila then placed herself between the officer and the fleeing man and pushed the officer. Ortega allegedly grabbed the officer’s arm and vest. The first officer called for assistance, and another arrived to find several staff members grabbing his colleague, according to the government’s account. The officers ultimately handcuffed the man and escorted him out of the surgery center.
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli addressed the case in comments reported by ABC7. He disputed suggestions that agents had interrupted a patient’s appointment and said the man had entered while fleeing officers. ABC7 reported that both employees were arrested and arraigned on allegations involving assault and conspiracy. Essayli also said his office had filed charges in more than 50 cases involving suspected interference with federal officers since immigration enforcement increased that June.
Watch the surgery center confrontation here:
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The prosecution subsequently changed course before obtaining a felony indictment. NBC Los Angeles reported on August 19th, 2025, that the original felony charges had been dropped and prosecutors were pursuing misdemeanor assault charges. Both defendants pleaded not guilty to those charges. Eight days later, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging each employee with a felony.
The Justice Department announced that indictment on August 27th, 2025, identifying the charge as assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer. The indictment contained allegations, and both defendants were entitled to the presumption of innocence. Homeland Security Investigations was investigating the matter at the time of the announcement. Prosecutors said the felony carried a statutory maximum sentence of eight years in federal prison if convicted.
Guillen-Solis was deported to Honduras on August 16th, 2025, according to a DHS statement reported by KVCR. The department said he’d chosen on July 25th not to contest his removal proceedings. Immigration attorney Russell Jauregui said Guillen-Solis hadn’t been charged with a crime and had ultimately decided to return to Honduras. His removal came more than five weeks after agents detained him during the confrontation at the surgery center.
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.