ICE agents faced pushback from illegal immigrants being detained and angry onlookers during two separate incidents in San Diego.
Federal agents confiscated a knife from a “violent” Venezuelan illegal immigrant who resisted arrest during a San Diego sweep on Thursday, May 29, and then encountered an angry mob of onlookers during a restaurant raid on Friday, May 30.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shared video on X of the takedown of the suspect with the knife. It was part of a larger operation that resulted in eight arrests — including one TdA member — with help from federal partners in San Diego.
🎥Watch our special agents confiscate a knife from a violent Venezuelan alien resisting arrest. This arrest was part of an operation that resulted in eight arrests — including one TdA member — with help from federal partners in San Diego May 29.
Our officers and agents often… pic.twitter.com/mHYCdvxVWR
— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) May 31, 2025
“Our officers and agents often face extremely violent criminals carrying knives or firearms,” ICE posted on X. “Securing our nation can be exceptionally dangerous, but our officers and agents are honored to protect our communities.”
The footage shows agents in camouflage pinning the suspect to the ground near what appears to be a pool area and taking the knife. The man arrested was not identified, and it is unclear if the man in the video is the gang member.
Another video shows agents searching suspects and taking them into custody as part of a larger immigration roundup in San Diego. Fox News Digital reported ICE has not released the names or statuses of those arrested. Still, it said one of those taken into custody is a confirmed member of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Another raid on Friday in San Diego drew a different kind of attention—resistance from diners and onlookers—after ICE agents entered a popular Italian restaurant in a South Park neighborhood.
FOX 5 KUSI and KPBS reported ICE conducted raids at Buona Forchetta and Enoteca Buona Forchetta on Beech Street before the busy dinner rush.
A Homeland Security Investigations special agent, who didn’t want to be identified, confirmed the arrests to KPBS news and said ICE agents made multiple arrests at Buona Forchetta.
“We’re executing a criminal search warrant at the location that we just completed, so we’re getting out,” the agent said.
KPBS reported an upset crowd of onlookers surrounded the agents, yelling profanities and calling them fascists. At one point, a group blocked an unmarked vehicle carrying agents from leaving the intersection at 30th and Beech Streets.
Agents used what appeared to be flashbang smoke grenades to disperse the crowd.
Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told FOX News that agents were doing their law enforcement duty during the raid.
“We should be supported, not being called Nazis, not being villainized,” he told FOX.
ICE posted the clip on X with the caption: “WATCH ICE Acting Director respond to lawmakers villainizing ICE and encouraging people to fight back against law enforcement. ‘It’s plain out disgusting.’ —ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons”
San Diego, near the Mexico border, has become a hot spot in the broader border crisis. Criminal networks and transnational gangs have increasingly exploited weak enforcement in southern California, resulting in an influx of illegal immigrants, drug trafficking and other criminal activity.
In May, federal authorities arrested 13 alleged members of rival Armenian crime rings for alleged attempted murder, kidnapping and an elaborate cargo theft enterprise in in California’s San Fernando Valley.
In another financial scheme, authorities made 14 arrests on May 28 on two federal criminal complaints alleging they fraudulently obtained more than $25 million in taxpayer-funded COVID-19 relief funds and federally guaranteed small business loans, according to an ICE news release.
The 18 total defendants named in the complaints — four are believed to be in Armenia — face numerous charges related to defrauding the government, wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and other financial crimes.
Fox News Digital reported other TdA-related arrests elsewhere in the U.S. Two Venezuelans in the U.S. illegally were recently charged in a Dec. 2 house party shooting in Chicago. Ricardo Granadillo Padilla, 25, and Edward Martinez Cermeno, 24, face charges related to the shooting that killed three people and wounded five others.
Eight people were shot, including five men and three women between the ages of 20 and 35, according to a report from affiliate FOX 32 Chicago. Authorities also confiscated weapons, ammunition and narcotics from Padilla’s home in Chicago.
The incident led to the arrests of 16 additional TdA members and associates of Padilla and Cermeno in the Chicago and Raleigh areas on immigration charges.
