An illegal immigrant from Venezuela has been charged with resisting arrest after grabbing a federal agent’s gun during a fight at a Sam’s Club in the Metro Detroit area.
Prosecutors allege 33-year-old Arnoldo Jose Marquez-Pulido resisted arrest and scuffled with agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He grabbed an agent’s firearm and injured two investigators who were treated at a local hospital and released, according to court documents.
Marquez-Pulido was charged in a federal criminal complaint filed this week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Michigan.
Marquez-Pulido faces charges for assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer and being an illegal immigrant in possession of a firearm. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
Marquez-Pulido illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico, crossing in San Ysidro, California, in April 2024. He was paroled into the United States under the Biden administration.
U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon said that the case against Marquez-Pulido breaks the narrative that “enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is unfair because illegal aliens are all harmless.”
“High speed flight from arrest, fighting federal agents, and grabbing an agent’s gun are not ‘harmless,’” Gorgon said in a statement. “And what’s ‘unfair’ is the fact that Americans pay the price for dangerous illegal aliens.”
Based on court documents, the altercation took place on March 4 at Sam’s Club in Utica, Michigan, in Macomb County. Agents with the Homeland Security Task Force were surveilling the area based on reports that illegal immigrants were working as delivery drivers at the store.
Agents attempted a traffic stop on Marquez-Pulido, who briefly stopped then fled in his car at a high rate of speed, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent James Ratobylski wrote in an affidavit.
Investigators avoided a dangerous chase and lost sight of his vehicle, Ratobylski wrote. They tracked him down when he returned to Sam’s Club, and he ignored a HSTF agent’s commands to stop, according to the criminal complaint.
“Marquez-Pulido refused to comply with commands and began to fight with the special agent,” Ratobylski wrote. “During the struggle, Marquez-Pulido struck the special agent on his left cheek with his elbow.”
Marquez-Pulido tried to run into the business and forcibly resisted arrest but was tackled outside the store, prosecutors said. During the struggle, he reached for the agent’s service firearm, a Glock Model 19 pistol.
“Marquez-Pulido was able to remove the firearm from the agent’s holster and briefly wield it before he lost control of the gun when the agent flipped him over,” the complaint states.
Additional agents arrived and secured the firearm from the ground “where it landed after it slipped from Marquez-Pulido’s possession,” the complaint states.
Marquez-Pulido continued to fight and had to be restrained after agents secured the firearm. Two agents sustained minor injuries during the incident.
“During the commission of this offense, Marquez-Pulido inflicted bodily injury on the special agent,” Ratobylski wrote. “The special agent suffered a contusion to his elbow, abrasions on his knees and hands, and a contusion to his right cheek. Another agent suffered a contusion to his knee.”
Federal investigators confirmed Marquez-Pulido is in the country illegally, and he later admitted he did not have permission to be in the country. He was released and ordered to appear for a removal hearing in front of an immigration judge in April 2025, according to the court filing.
“There is no evidence that Marquez-Pulido has received any form of lawful status in the United States,” the agent wrote.
The Detroit News reported he is being held at Calhoun County Correctional Facility. Marquez-Pulido will face a federal magistrate judge on Friday for a detention hearing to determine whether he will remain jailed while the case is pending.
Prosecutors are seeking to hold Marquez-Pulido in custody while the case plays out. A decision to seek an indictment will be made in the near future since a felony trial cannot be held on a complaint, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
This case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations. HSI Detroit said the agency remains committed to holding accountable individuals who threaten law enforcement and public safety.
“Attacks like this endanger not only our agents, but everyone in the vicinity,” HSI Detroit acting Special Agent in Charge Jared Murphey said in a statement. “HSI Detroit will continue to respond decisively whenever our agents and partners are confronted with violence.”
