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by Jose Fermoso<\/a><\/strong>, Roselyn Romero<\/a><\/strong>, Darwin BondGraham<\/a><\/strong> and Esther Kaplan<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nOct. 29, 2025 (Oaklandside.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rev. Jorge Bautista showed up to Dennison Road in East Oakland early in the morning of Oct. 23<\/a> with other clergy to protest the Trump administration\u2019s planned law enforcement \u201csurge\u201d<\/a> in the Bay Area. He stood in the road with dozens of others as part of a Sanctuary Faith Vigil as approximately 10 trucks carrying Customs and Border Protection agents sped to the entrance of the lone bridge that ties Oakland to Coast Guard Island. The agents would be supported by the Coast Guard base for the operation, a spokesperson confirmed, and Oaklanders braced for the kind of controversial crackdowns<\/a> that have upset Chicago<\/a> and Los Angeles<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to three eyewitnesses who spoke to The Oaklandside and photographs from three photographers who were on the scene, a few CBP agents got out of their vehicles when they got stalled by the crowd. Other vehicles made it onto the bridge, where some CBP agents got out and returned to the cluster of protesters, who were all gathered on the city side of the blue line marking the edge of federal property. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the agents, wearing a camo helmet with a chin guard hiding much of his face and a ballistic vest with a CBP badge and \u201cPOLICE\u201d emblazoned on the front, locked eyes with Bautista and stepped toward him, crossing the blue line and exiting federal land. The agent raised a large weapon, one that shoots \u201cless lethal\u201d projectiles, leveling it at the reverend\u2019s head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bautista didn\u2019t think anything would happen. The agents had just lobbed some stun grenades toward the protesters, many of whom quickly retreated, but Bautista and others stayed in place. He was hoping to mediate, not believing they would fire anything directly at people\u2019s bodies, he said. \u201cWe\u2019re here in peace,\u201d he recalls saying to the agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then \u201cboom!\u201d The agent, standing roughly five feet away, shot a cloud of noxious chemicals right into Bautista\u2019s face. The toxic vapors soon enveloped him. The caustic powder entered his mouth and coated his face and coat. He couldn\u2019t breathe. One witness, Jerome Parmer, said Bautista\u2019s face was covered with white dust and was bleeding from his chin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The shooting, which was recorded on video<\/a> and in photos and witnessed by dozens of bystanders, raises many of the same questions that communities in other cities subjected to unpopular federal law enforcement operations have been grappling with. Similar attacks on clergy became the subject of a temporary restraining order in Chicago earlier this month, when a federal judge barred agents from using violence or riot control weapons<\/a> against journalists, protesters, or religious practitioners unless they posed an immediate threat to the agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Was the federal agent\u2019s use of force during the Oakland protest justified? Or was it a crime \u2014 an unprovoked assault?<\/p>\n\n\n\n If it were a crime committed on city or state property, within Oakland city limits, who had jurisdiction to hold the agent accountable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump administration officials have repeatedly dismissed such concerns, claiming agents\u2019 use of force during operations in Democrat-led cities has been \u201cexemplary<\/a>\u201d and necessary to protect federal officers and the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response to questions from The Oaklandside about the shooting, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson sent a statement claiming that the protesters \u201cswarmed, attacked, and refused to move out of the way\u201d of CBP vehicles and attempted to obstruct law enforcement. The spokesperson said the agents \u201cprovided ample notice to these individuals to clear the street and used appropriate force to clear the area for the safety of law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The agency did not respond to queries about whether the agent who shot Bautista was following CBP protocol or whether the agency was investigating the incident. A CBP use of force policy<\/a> issued in 2021 states that agents \u201cshall not intentionally target the head, neck, groin, spine, or female breast\u201d with less-lethal chemical munitions, which is what appears to have been used against Bautista.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democratic Party elected officials opposed to the militarized operations have repeatedly expressed concerns about federal agents\u2019 use of force. Some have gone so far as to say federal agents who brutalize people should face consequences, including criminal prosecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Never miss a story.<\/strong> Sign up for The Oaklandside\u2019s free daily newsletter.<\/strong>Email<\/p>\n\n\n\n The day before protesters in Oakland, including Bautista, confronted CBP agents at the entrance to Coast Guard Island, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, of San Francisco, issued a statement<\/a> warning that California law enforcement agencies could step in to protect the public against federal officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur state and local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law \u2014 and if they are convicted, the President cannot pardon them,\u201d Pelosi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same day, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told the media she would prosecute federal agents who break the law. \u201cIf the agents cross the bounds of the law, if they do things that we believe are criminal themselves, then I have an obligation as the district attorney to ensure that they\u2019re held accountable, too,\u201d she told<\/a> the San Francisco Chronicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next day, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche fired off a letter<\/a> to Pelosi, Gov. Gavin Newsom, and others, warning that the arrest of federal agents would be \u201cillegal and futile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Legal experts say it\u2019s true that states face barriers to prosecuting federal agents for crimes perpetrated in the line of duty. However, federal agents do not have absolute immunity. Although rare, they can and have been arrested and charged for violations of state law, said Michael Mannheimer, a professor at Northern Kentucky University and constitutional law scholar<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether California\u2019s police and prosecutors have the political stomach to do so \u2014 and pick a fight with the Trump administration \u2014 is a whole other question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week wasn\u2019t the first time Bautista found himself subjected to forceful treatment by a CBP agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2019, Bautista, who lives in Oakland, was at the U.S.-Mexico border in Southern California, protesting its increased militarization. As he and other protesters locked arms and walked to the beach, the pastor told us he was the first person agents targeted in an intense attack. He said agents took him out of the line, restrained him on the ground, and put their knees on his neck. He was taken into a van on U.S. soil, where agents took photos of him without explanation. He was returned to the border an hour later with severe bruises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. government charged him with a petty offense, violating rules of conduct on federal property. The case ultimately went to trial, and he was acquitted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The pastor didn\u2019t participate in protests for years after that. But he said what he saw occurring in Palestine over the last two years, and then with the mass deportation decrees under the Trump administration this year, pulled him out of the church and back onto the streets for protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the CBP agents showed up in their vehicles last Thursday, Bautista said they came in \u201chot,\u201d revving their engines and braking abruptly in front of the protesters. The agents all poured out around the same time, \u201cscreaming and making threats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bautista stood his ground but stayed safely in front of the blue line, respecting the federal property boundary. Because the agents were moving around fast, he wanted to make sure they knew the protesters were not trying to elicit a violent reaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe idea was to do a vigil, not civil disobedience, not blocking the road,\u201d Bautista said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the situation got tense, and the CBP agents shouted at the protesters to move out of the way or they would run them over with their vehicles. Some reacted angrily, especially because they said they were not in the way and because there were children in the crowd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2018We\u2019re going to hurt you, and we don\u2019t care,\u2019 was the feeling coming\u201d from the agents, Bautista said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bautista raised his voice to be heard. He said he wanted them to know he was not afraid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s when the agent shot him with the chemical irritant, and he went into shock. At first, the pain was so harsh that he thought his jaw was broken from a hit by the stun grenade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLooking back, I think to myself \u2014 I\u2019ve been in a variety of protests \u2014 and ask myself, \u2018Why did I trust him?\u2019\u201d Bautista said. \u201cWas I foolish enough to give him the benefit of the doubt?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Friends gave him water and Mylanta to clear the powder from his throat. He tried to listen to his body and not panic, as his heart raced. His first instinct was to get back up and stay at the vigil, but other protesters urged him to go to the hospital. The chemical irritant was coating his body so densely that it was making other people sick. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bautista said he could see no reason why he was shot. He doesn\u2019t believe the officer followed policy or the law. The officer who shot him did not speak to him before he opened fire, did not identify himself, did not provide a verbal warning that he might use force, and did not provide medical attention after the incident. No CBP or Coast Guard officers tried to help him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo matter who you are, you should not be assaulted that way for any reason,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since Bautista was shot, the images and video of the incident<\/a> have spread on the web<\/a>. He\u2019s gotten calls from press around the world. And locally, some community members have questioned whether Bautista was the victim of an assault \u2014 one without any legal justification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If local authorities were going to investigate the CBP agent\u2019s shooting of Bautista, the case would probably fall to the Oakland Police Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The shooting, according to videos and photos of the incident, occurred in a public Oakland intersection, several steps away from the blue line on the road that demarcates where federal government property begins at the entrance to Coast Guard Island Bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked whether OPD is investigating the shooting, the department said it \u201chas no authority to oppose or prevent federal investigations\u201d and referred further questions to DHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the shooting, Bautista was rushed to Kaiser Permanente\u2019s Oakland Medical Center, where he was greeted by emergency room staff who treated him \u201camazingly,\u201d he said. They made him shower to get rid of the pepper spray, checked his vitals, and asked about his mental health. A doctor told him he was lucky he hadn\u2019t ingested more of the pepper agent, which could have seriously choked him; if more had gone into his eyes, the doctor said, it could have affected his eyesight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bautista said he appreciated the solidarity he felt from the medical staff, who were outraged to learn what had happened. A nurse informed him that he had a right to report the incident to police. She took down his version of events, told him that she called law enforcement, and said to expect a visit from the police at his home later that evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n OPD declined to confirm with us whether or not the department had taken a report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Should OPD or another law enforcement agency investigate the incident and recommend criminal charges, the decision of whether to prosecute would most likely rest with the Alameda County District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last Thursday, DA Ursula Jones Dickson stood with<\/a> Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, Rep. Lateefah Simon, and other leaders at a press conference where they voiced opposition to a federal operation in Oakland. The DA issued a statement<\/a> the following day reaffirming that her office will not work with federal agents to enforce immigration laws, and cautioning that her office \u201ccannot thwart lawful activities by the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The DA\u2019s office declined to provide an on-the-record statement on the hypothetical question of whether it would prosecute the federal agent who shot Bautista if presented with a case from OPD or another investigating agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked about the law, the DA\u2019s office pointed to a legal precedent known as the supremacy clause<\/a>, which constrains when state prosecutors can charge federal agents. However, the office declined to weigh in on the record with its interpretation of the supremacy clause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Former Alameda County DA Pamela Price, who was recalled last November, told The Oaklandside she believes there is room for local law enforcement and state prosecutors to go after federal agents for clear and obvious violations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAn assault by a federal agent is illegal,\u201d Price said when asked about Bautista\u2019s shooting. \u201cIt\u2019s unconstitutional, and it should be addressed by local law enforcement authorities, including the district attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Price said she believes OPD should investigate the shooting as a criminal assault \u2014 and the DA should consider charging the agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s a duty on behalf of local law enforcement and the district attorney to protect the residents of Alameda County,\u201d Price said. \u201cThat\u2019s the job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n State Attorney General Rob Bonta\u2019s office could also consider charges in the shooting incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bonta has strongly criticized Trump\u2019s deployment of the National Guard to cities. Calling these deployments illegal, Bonta pledged last week<\/a> to sue the administration if troops were deployed to San Francisco. Bonta has also opposed ICE agents\u2019 use of masks<\/a> to hide their identities, and he\u2019s joined lawsuits opposing<\/a> some of ICE and CBP\u2019s tactics during immigration raids in Southern California<\/a> earlier this year, including stopping people without reasonable suspicion of a crime. But this pushback has taken the form of civil lawsuits \u2014 not criminal prosecutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Oaklandside emailed and called the AG\u2019s office multiple times, asking if the office was conducting an investigation into the use of force by CBP in Oakland last week, including the shooting of Bautista. We have not yet heard back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While law enforcement officers enjoy substantial legal protections for their conduct while on duty, Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law and a constitutional law expert, told The Oaklandside that federal officers can be criminally prosecuted for unreasonable conduct that violates the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chemerinsky pointed to Idaho v. Horiuchi<\/a>, a 2001 case in which Idaho attempted to prosecute federal officers after a standoff at Ruby Ridge turned violent and three people were killed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit refused to dismiss Idaho\u2019s prosecution of the federal officers, saying that federal agents\u2019 immunity from state prosecution has limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen an agent acts in an objectively unreasonable manner, those limits are exceeded, and a state may bring a criminal prosecution,\u201d the 9th Circuit wrote in its opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI believe that courts should conclude that there is no reasonable need for ICE agents to be wearing masks and never a need for excessive force,\u201d Chemerinsky said. \u201cBeing a federal officer is not a \u2018get out of jail free\u2019 card that excuses all wrongdoing committed while on the job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Mannheimer, the regents professor of law at Northern Kentucky University, also said state police have the lawful ability to investigate federal agents who may have broken the law, and state prosecutors can charge federal agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When these sorts of cases have come before courts in the past, Mannheimer said, judges have drilled down on two questions. First, was the federal agent acting under the scope of their federal job? And second, did the federal agent believe their actions were appropriate and reasonable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the answer to both questions is yes, then judges will dismiss the case. But if an agent\u2019s actions were not appropriate and reasonable, even if they were in uniform and on the job, they can still be charged with a crime, he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s rare, however, for state prosecutors to do this. \u201cWhen it does happen, it\u2019s typically where you have something like the present moment, where you have an unpopular federal policy at the state and local level,\u201d he said. \u201cProhibition, for example, or the standoff at Ruby Ridge<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mannheimer said state law enforcement and prosecutors may hesitate to weigh in on particular cases for political reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLet\u2019s give the Alameda County DA the benefit of the doubt that they understand the law better than they\u2019ve addressed it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey probably don\u2019t want to get involved in this pissing match between the feds and state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bautista spent three days at home recuperating from the attack. By Sunday, he felt well enough to return to his San Mateo congregation and preach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know, I\u2019m still in the ring, with a lot of hope,\u201d he said. \u201c\u200aI\u2019ve been dreaming that this is a time for us to do whatever it takes to stop criminalizing migrants, to see the bigger picture \u2014 that the criminalization of migrants is one of the worst violations of human rights anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pastor Bautista took a long path to the church. More than 25 years ago, he said, he was a teenager who ran with the wrong crowd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Growing up in a gang-laden area of San Jose, a child of a Mexican immigrant, Bautista got into trouble, went to jail, and, on the most critical day of his life, had a gun pointed at his head. He remembers being in his room afterward, crying, asking for God\u2019s help for the first time \u2014 asking God to let him live so he could find a different path. Soon after, a friend took him to a community center<\/a> that helped him develop a more positive outlook on life and then to an evangelical church where, in October 1998, he was called to serve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u200aI was sick and tired of being sick and tired,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted my life turned around. I got tired of being harassed by cops and being arrested, and seeing my mom be miserable. I remember her visiting me once in jail and saying, \u2018You know, I didn\u2019t migrate for you to be incarcerated.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It took him years, including ministry stints in Chicago and South Korea and then a seminary degree in Berkeley, but he eventually became the type of mentor he never had growing up. He became a pastor at an Evangelical church, often ministering to people in local prisons, where he sought to offer them spiritual guidance to help them endure and, eventually, be set free. But he disagreed with what he thought was the denomination\u2019s detached stance toward social justice advocacy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy mom worked in asparagus fields in Stockton as a farmworker, she was a janitor, and eventually worked in a variety of companies\u2019 assembly lines,\u201d he said. \u201cI started learning about the works of the German Lutheran Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who fought against the Nazis. I learned that as a Christian, we are to be involved in social justice work.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bautista noted that in the Bible tale of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Christian family migrated from Bethlehem to Egypt as refugees, for safety, when an angel warned Joseph, Jesus\u2019 father, that King Herod would seek to find and kill his son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So Bautista became a religious leader at the United Church of Christ, an egalitarian Protestant denomination aligned with his beliefs about the divinity and human rights of all people. When rhetoric in the United States around undocumented immigrants ratcheted up about a decade ago, Bautista could be found preaching from the pulpit about the injustices they faced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bautista said he is proud of the role many religious leaders are playing in the fight against the Trump administration\u2019s abuses. Several have already served as frontline peace messengers during protests \u2014 and some have ended up assaulted<\/a> like him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI follow what Pope Leo is doing because most migrants coming from Latin America are Catholics,\u201d he said. \u201cAs someone who identifies themselves as ecumenical, we\u2019re about standing on the side of love of Christians first and foremost. But regardless of their school of thought \u2014 like Jesuits tending to be more active in the spirit of activism than Franciscans \u2014 we all need each other. We are all in agreement about migrant justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since arriving home from the hospital, as he waits to tell his side of the story to the police, Bautista said he has begun to consider filing a civil rights lawsuit. As of today, Bautista still hasn\u2019t heard from OPD or any other law enforcement agency about what happened to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n jose@oaklandside.org<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jose Fermoso covers road safety, transportation, and public health for The Oaklandside. His previous work covering tech and culture has appeared in publications including The Guardian, The New York Times, and One Zero. Jose was born and raised in Oakland and is the host and creator of the El Progreso podcast, a new show featuring in-depth narrative stories and interviews about and from the perspective of the Latinx community.More by Jose Fermoso<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n roselyn@oaklandside.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Roselyn Romero covers public safety for The Oaklandside. She was previously The Oaklandside\u2019s small business reporter as a 2023-24 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism Fellow. Before joining the team, she was an investigative intern at NBC Bay Area and the inaugural intern for the Global Investigations team of The Associated Press through a partnership with the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting. She graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2022 with a bachelor\u2019s in journalism and minors in Spanish, ethnic studies, and women\u2019s & gender studies. She is a proud daughter of Filipino immigrants and was born and raised in Oxnard, California.More by Roselyn Romero<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n darwin@oaklandside.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Before joining The Oaklandside as News Editor, Darwin BondGraham was a freelance investigative reporter covering police and prosecutorial misconduct. He has reported on gun violence for The Guardian and was a staff writer for the East Bay Express. He holds a doctorate in sociology from UC Santa Barbara and was the co-recipient of the George Polk Award for local reporting in 2017. He is also the co-author of The Riders Come Out at Night, a book examining the Oakland Police Department’s history of corruption and reform.More by Darwin BondGraham<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n esther@oaklandside.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Esther Kaplan was most recently the investigations editor at Business Insider. Before that, she was executive editor at Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, where she oversaw a reporting team that led investigations for a national podcast, and editor-in-chief at the New York City nonprofit Type Investigations. She launched the Ida B. Wells Fellowship, a program dedicated to diversifying the field of investigative reporting.More by Esther Kaplan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A violent response to an Oakland protest raises the same legal questions other states are grappling with as Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown intensifies. by Jose Fermoso, Roselyn Romero, Darwin BondGraham and Esther Kaplan Oct. 29, 2025 (Oaklandside.org) Rev. Jorge Bautista showed up to Dennison Road in East Oakland early in the morning of Oct. 23 with other clergy… Continue reading ![\"A](\"https:\/\/oaklandside.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251029-220244-1200x806.webp\")
\u201cWe\u2019re going to hurt you, and we don\u2019t care\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Can state and local police and prosecutors charge a federal agent with a crime?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Avoiding a \u201cpissing match\u201d between the feds and the state<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A likely lawsuit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Jose Fermoso<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Roselyn Romero<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Darwin BondGraham<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Esther Kaplan<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n