“You don’t even have a warrant for him!” That is the cry heard in a video that has gone viral from a suburb of Ontario, California, a medical clinic where medical staff wearing scrubs directly fought U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers who wanted to lock up a Honduran landscaper.
In the beginning, a federal operation, it quickly turned into a struggle that involved a locked facility, kidnapping accusations, and a frightened group of medical staff members thrown into the nation’s spiraling immigration debates.
The July 8 incident, which is now receiving national attention, took place outside the Ontario Advanced Surgery Center, which is 35 miles east of Los Angeles, California. The Department of Homeland Security talked about the operation as a “targeted enforcement operation” to capture two undocumented immigrants.
One of them tried to escape and fled in the general direction of the clinic; he came to be known as Denis Guillen-Solis.
Things took an extreme turn at that point, and the camera phones began to roll.
Californian Scrubs vs. ICE in Real Time
ICE officers sporting clearly visible bulletproof vests are met by a group of clinic staff members who appear to wedge themselves between Guillen-Solis and federal law enforcement officials in footage distributed by the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice. “Let him go,” a woman in blue scrubs says to the agents.
One says, “Get your hands off of him,” while yet another asserts that they have not obtained an arrest warrant.
As stated by the Department of Homeland Security, the employees made an effort to shield the man, deliberately blocked federal vehicles, and even called local police to notify them of a “kidnapping” before dragging officers into the medical facility.
🚨 𝐓𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫
📌 A #Honduran landscaper fleeing immigration agents ran into a #California surgical clinic, where staff halted the… pic.twitter.com/MbUgAgrXMz— arnie abramyan (@ArnieAbramyan) July 11, 2025
According to ICE, Guillen-Solis was an “illegal alien” who ran away after becoming known as a target, and the hospital’s staff members blocked his legal arrest. Still, advocacy groups such as the Inland Coalition are taking action, saying that federal agents breached rules of ethics by causing fear in the healthcare sector and possibly putting patients in danger.
Guillen-Solis used to work as a landscaper and often sent money to his mom in Honduras for dialysis treatments from his job in California, according to Coalition executive director Javier Hernandez, who spoke to The Associated Press.
Hernandez claimed that they terrorized an entire workplace, not just him.
A New Flashpoint in America’s Ongoing Immigration Drama
There have been many instances of recent escalations between federal immigration officials and ordinary people, such as the standoff in Ontario.
The same day, ICE officers carrying batons were at odds with protesters outside the San Francisco Immigration Court.
Breaking: Tense standoff at SF immigration court
ICE vehicle and protesters clash, resulting in dangerous situation
Calls growing for arrests of all who interfere with agents. pic.twitter.com/ALrMwjllOo
— Tim (@Dragonboy155) July 9, 2025
Two days later, during an ICE raid at a marijuana farm outside of Los Angeles, California, where federal agents say undocumented workers had been hired, another fight broke out. Particularly in sanctuary state California, these prominent cases show growing public outrage over immigration crackdowns.
Also, even with ICE’s claim that its officers behaved constitutionally, critics say that the line between harassment and the law has become more and more fuzzy.
The ICE ultimately arrested California’s Guillen-Solis, but not before his case became a symbolic flashpoint that led to some debate about who we must safeguard and at what cost.
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