An illegal immigrant from Venezuela will spend nine months in prison and face deportation proceedings for assaulting federal officers in Michigan.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Jonker sentenced Carlos Cadena Duran, 26, to nine months in prison for attacking U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers who were transporting him from Detroit to Calhoun County Jail on November 26.
“Although restrained, Cadena Duran managed to unbuckle his seatbelt and began banging his head, legs, and torso on the barrier between the front and back seats of the vehicle,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“As the officers attempted to secure Cadena Duran to prevent him from hurting himself, he threatened officers,” a release read. “Cadena Duran kicked and attempted to headbutt one of the officers, then grabbed and pulled the officer’s belt buckle.”
Cadena Duran cross into the U.S. illegally through Texas in 2023, and was arrested as he attempted to reenter country at the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit on November 21.
“This case provides another example of the danger our migration officers must face every single day,” U.S. Attorney Timothy VerHey said in a statement. “My office will support their work by bringing assault charges whenever this danger escalates into violence against them.”
CBP Special Agent Robinson Colombini also stressed “assaults on federal officers will not be tolerated, and (CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility) will continue to work closely with our federal partners to ensure these incidents are through investigated and appropriately addressed.”
Cadena Duran is expected to face deportation proceedings once his sentence in served.
The case follows less than a month after VerHey’s office highlighted a similar case involving an illegal immigrant from Guatemala sentenced in prison for assaulting a U.S. Enforcement and Removal Operations officer.
In that case, Jarbou sentenced Enrique Lopez-Mejia, 21, to two years in prison following a scuffle with officers in Grand Rapids.
“The assault occurred when immigration agents attempted to sop a vehicle occupied by Lopez-Mejia and other illegal aliens. He attempted to evade officers by driving erratically, stopping abruptly, then fleeing from his car in Grand Rapids,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“When caught, Lopez-Mejia pushed an officer to the ground and wrestled with him until other officers succeeded in handcuffing him and securing him in their patrol car,” a release read. “The defendant injured an officer’s knee during the confrontation, which required medical treatment.”
Lopez-Mejia was illegally in the U.S. for an eight time when the incident occurred. He was ordered removed by an immigration judge in 2005, and was deported seven times between 2005 and 2026.
Like Cadena Duran, Lopez-Mejia will again be deported to Guatemala after he serves his sentence.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement recorded 49,571 arrests in July, or an average of 1,599 arrests per day, marking the highest monthly total since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, according to ICE data cited by Michigan Public.
The total eclipsed the previous monthly high in June of 43,021 arrests by 15%.
Department of Homeland Security’s Worst of the Worst database lists 322 illegal immigrants arrested in Michigan with a history of heinous crimes and affiliations with transnational gangs, including plenty of scammers, killers, rapists, and child molesters.
They include criminals from Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Israel, Cuba, Laos, Iraq, Columbia, Canada, Nigeria, China, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, Burma, Ukraine, Laos, El Salvador, Sudan, Peru, Pakistan, Ecuador, Somalia, Vietnam, Jordan, Thailand, Ghana, Poland, Cambodia, Iran, India, Spain, Pakistan, Eritrea, Albania, the Ivory Coast, Dominican Republic of the Congo, Nicaragua, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Egypt, Jamaica, Malaysia, Romania, Uzbekistan, Yemen and Bhutan.
Prior convictions for those removed involve sex assaults, prostituting a minor, cocaine smuggling, DUIs, aggravated assaults, fraud, drug trafficking, hit and runs, lascivious acts with a minor, burglary, sex offenses, immigration fraud, homicide, smuggling aliens, carrying a concealed weapon, identity theft, property damage, resisting police, drug sales, racketeering, domestic violence, negligent manslaughter, flight to avoid prosecution, resisting police, amphetamine sales, cruelty toward a child, drug possession, fondling a child, possession of stolen property, counterfeiting, obstructing justice, trespassing, shoplifting, robbery, failure to register as a sex offender, prostitution, willful homicide, forceable purse snatching, probation violations, weapon trafficking, possession of burglary tools, rape, sodomy, manufacturing methamphetamines, sexual exploitation of a minor, extortion, kidnapping, computer fraud, intimidation, and other offenses.
