“We’re certainly very concerned that it’s the same group of ICE agents running the corridor along Columbia Pike.
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A 4-Foot-11 Man Walking to Work in Arlington Is Tasered by ICE and Wakes Up With a Brain Bleed — Then the Ankle Monitor ICE Fitted Him With Blocks the MRI His Doctors Ordered
August 19, 2026
At about 6:30 a.m. on August 11, 2026, José Mejía Hernández, 45, was walking to work in Arlington, Virginia when two trucks pulled up and men got out and ran at him. He did not know who they were, according to his attorney, and he ran. He believes he was hit in the back with a stun device. He remembers nothing after that. He woke in a hospital with a brain hemorrhage, blackened eyes, facial lacerations and cuts requiring stitches — and two ICE officers at his bedside, who his lawyer Carlos Jurado says never left, meaning he was never given a private moment with his doctors. He was discharged within 72 hours, fitted with a GPS ankle monitor and handed immigration forms. When doctors ordered an MRI more than a week later to measure the bleeding and swelling in his brain, the metal ankle monitor made the scan impossible, and ICE refused to remove it. "Mr. Mejia Hernandez is 4'11," Jurado said. "He's 125 pounds. This man is not a Division 1 athlete." The Department of Homeland Security disputes the account. It said Mejía Hernández "attempted to flee from the scene requiring ICE to use necessary force to gain control of the situation," and called it "FALSE" that he was unconscious and woke in a hospital bed, saying officers rendered aid and asked the responsive individual if he was okay. The incident occurred a day after an ICE agent pointed a loaded gun at U.S. citizen Carolina Molina a few miles away in Falls Church — an encounter her dashcam contradicted DHS's account of — and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) said he was "certainly very concerned that it's the same group of ICE agents running the corridor along Columbia Pike." Beyer called the injuries "extremely disturbing" and told constituents to "exercise extreme caution," saying ICE agents in Northern Virginia "are disappearing people, and they are all too frequently becoming out of control or violent." Arlington's elected prosecutor and county board chair both said publicly that they were investigating what they could. Arlington Commonwealth's Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti said "no one is above the law — not any individual, not law enforcement, and not federal officials." County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said ICE does not communicate with the county about its operations at all.
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“Because ICE does not communicate with the County regarding its activity in our community, we are working to confirm details. However, it is clear that ICE’s continued tactics and disregard for life, civil liberties, and due process have not made us safer. ICE’s acts of violence instill fear in the very communities it claims to serve and protect and strains the trust residents have with our local government and police officers.
“The injuries to Jose Mejia Hernandez and his account of how he received them are extremely disturbing, and I am seeking further details about what happened to him in Arlington. It is essential to establish the facts in this case, and, if this is another instance of unjustified violence by ICE agents, to hold them accountable.
“I urge Northern Virginians to exercise extreme caution. ICE agents are here, they are regularly ignoring their training and departmental regulations that call for de-escalation, they are disappearing people, and they are all too frequently becoming out of control or violent.
“I am deeply disturbed by the reports that ICE agents severely injured José Mejía Hernandez. I am committed to upholding the rule of law and holding all individuals who violate the law in our community accountable in the appropriate ways. No one is above the law — not any individual, not law enforcement, and not federal officials — no one.