Venezuelan migrant accused of assaulting officer, grabbing gun and evading arrest

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

Law enforcement agents assigned to the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Task Force, or HSTF, began monitoring a business in Utica, Michigan, after receiving information that individuals living in the United States illegally were working at the location as delivery drivers.

Agents observed a vehicle registered to Arnoldo José Marquez-Pulido, 33, leaving the parking lot, and determined he was in the country illegally, according to a Department of Justice press release.

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Photos of Marquez-Pulido allegedly seizing the gun from the officer handling the criminal complaint in the Eastern District of Michigan. (Ministry of Justice)

After officers attempted a routine traffic stop, authorities say Marquez-Pulido briefly stopped before fleeing officers at “a high rate of speed.”

He then returned to the company’s headquarters, where he fled on foot, according to the criminal complaint.

An HSTF agent attacked Márquez-Pulido after he allegedly ignored the agent’s commands to stop and attempted to enter the business, the Justice Department said in a news release.

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

Other officers responded and recovered the weapon from the ground. Authorities say Márquez-Pulido continued to resist before being overpowered.

The officer suffered a bruised elbow, abrasions to his knees and hands and a bruised cheek, officials said. A second officer suffered a bruised knee. Both were treated at hospital and released.

Marquez-Pulido was scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court in Detroit this week, although prosecutors said they would seek to keep him in custody pending further proceedings.

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Residents and federal and Border Patrol agents in California on June 19, 2025. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Marquez-Pulido allegedly entered the United States through a San Ysidro, California port of entry in 2024 without a visa or valid travel documents.

Federal prosecutors said the allegations against the Venezuelan national underscore the dangers some agents face as they seek to crack down on border security and enforce a tough immigration enforcement agenda that President Donald Trump prioritized during his second term in the White House.

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

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

The news comes as DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said assaults on officers have increased sharply and vowed to prosecute individuals accused of violence against law enforcement.

Senate lawmakers remain sharply divided on how to move forward with fully funding DHS and ending the shutdown that stretched into its 27th day Thursday.

Immigration enforcement has emerged as a key sticking point for Democrats, in particular, as they continue to grapple over the details of a bill to fully fund the sprawling federal agency.

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

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

Schumer, for his part, also accused Republicans in the House of blocking the bill over disagreements over immigration, sparking a heated exchange with the Senate majority leader. John Thune, RS.D.

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“I suppose the Democratic leader is aware that we have tried repeatedly to finance everything temporarily to allow negotiations on the ICE budget to continue,” Thune retorted.

Alex Miller of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.