More Government Lies

Just over a month ago, I wrote a blog post titled "The Lies the Government Tells," which described how cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump and members of his administration constantly spread falsehoods. I specifically mentioned the shooting death by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer of Renee Good. Immediately after Good was killed, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem spread a number of lies about Good and what had occurred. When Alex Pretti was similarly killed a few days later, government officials again reflexively lied about him. To their credit, many mainstream media reporters have challenged Trump administration officials about the obviously false statements they have made. However, I am still not sure that there is a complete understanding of just how embedded lying is in the culture of the Trump administration. Today, I am going to discuss two additional shootings about which Department of Homeland Security officials immediately lied. However, while lying to the public and the media is one thing, lying to a court is quite another. In both of these cases, the truth came out during judicial processes.

The first shooting took place on October 4, 2025, in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago. Marimar Martinez, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen and teacher's assistant, was following a Chevy Tahoe driven by Border Patrol agents. While following the SUV, Martinez honked her horn and yelled to alert residents of the presence of federal immigration agents. At one point, the two vehicles were driving side-by-side and collided. Border Patrol agent Charles Exum exited the Tahoe, yelled "Do something, b----," and fired into Martinez's vehicle, hitting her five times. Martinez drove to a nearby auto repair shop where she called 911. She was taken to a hospital, where Border Patrol agents later arrested her.

The government's story is that the Border Patrol SUV had been boxed in by several other vehicles, and Martinez rammed the Tahoe. She was described as a "domestic terrorist" by Trump administration officials and was charged with assaulting federal officers. The complaint said that Martinez had "forcibly assaulted, resisted, opposed, impeded, intimidated, and interfered with" an officer of the United States and had "used a deadly and dangerous weapon."

However, evidence soon contradicted the government's claims. Witnesses at the scene contested the allegation that Martinez had rammed the Border Patrol vehicle. Exum sent text messages to his colleagues bragging about the shooting, saying in one that he was "up for another round of fuck around and find out." He also sent fellow agents a link to a news story about the shooting and wrote "read it ... I fired 5 shots and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys." Federal prosecutors abruptly moved to dismiss the charges, and the judge dismissed the case "with prejudice," meaning that the charges cannot be refiled.

Martinez was recently successful in forcing the government to release evidence in the case. Body camera footage showed that Exum stated "it’s time to get aggressive" right before turning his steering wheel to crash into Martinez's car. In addition, Exum had previously claimed that he had fired all five bullets through Martinez's windshield as she was driving towards him. Photographic evidence later showed that he fired at her as she was driving away.

Text messages showed that government officials immediately rallied in support of Exum. Gregory Bovino, at that time the Border Patrol commander for the operation in Chicago, wrote to Exum the same day asking him to delay his retirement in order to continue working and saying that his performance in Chicago had been "excellent". When asked if his superiors had been supportive, Exum wrote "Big time" and "Everyone has been including Chief Bovino, Chief Banks, Sec Noem, and El Jefe himself". "El Jefe" likely refers to Trump.

While I am focusing on the lies told by government officials, we should not lose sight of Exum's atrocious behavior. Frustrated by citizens who were exercising their Constitutionally protected rights, Exum crashed into Martinez's car and then shot her five times. It is a miracle that she wasn't killed. Exum would go on to brag about the shooting. Exum himself, and many others in DHS, lied about what had occurred. Recently, Customs and Border Protection said that Exum has been placed on administrative leave and that the shooting is being investigated. This demonstrates one of the problems of Trump administration officials immediately labeling victims of shootings by federal agents "domestic terrorists." How can DHS investigators act objectively when their bosses have already said that the victim was a terrorist and that Exum acted appropriately? In addition, Martinez's attorney said yesterday that Exum is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Indiana. Given the politicalization of the Justice Department under Attorney General Pam Bondi, it is questionable whether that investigation will be allowed to proceed.

The second shooting that I will discuss occurred on January 14 of this year (though a DHS press release mistakenly claims that it was last year). In this incident, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis was shot and wounded by an ICE agent. The shooting occurred after the ICE agent had attempted to conduct a traffic stop. According to the DHS press release, ICE attempted to stop Sosa-Celis, who fled in his car and then on foot. When he was subsequently caught by ICE agents, two other men attacked the officers with a snow shovel and a broom handle. DHS further claimed that Sosa-Celis also attacked an officer with either a shovel or broom handle, and the officer fired on him in self-defense. Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna were charged with assaulting a federal officer and held for trial. As in the case of Martinez, witnesses immediately contradicted the government's version of the story. Nevertheless, Noem told the press that "What we saw last night in Minneapolis was an attempted murder of federal law enforcement."

The DHS press release has a number of errors. Not only was the year given for the date of the incident wrong, but in court, the government would say that it was not Sosa-Celis who ICE had attempted to stop, but rather Aljorna. During a hearing, witness testimony and video evidence showed that Sosa-Celis and a third man had been in the area where ICE detained Aljorna, but had not attacked the officers. Instead, they retreated into their home and locked the door. ICE used tear gas to try to force them out and later shot through the door and into the house, hitting Sosa-Celis.

Yesterday, federal prosecutors asked the court to drop the charges against Sosa-Celis and Aljorna. Apparently, recently obtained surveillance video undermined the government's account of events. The prosecutors said only that, "Newly discovered evidence in this matter is materially inconsistent with the allegations in the Complaint Affidavit". In other words, the original allegations were factually wrong. The case was dismissed with prejudice.

So, let's review. The DHS press release, which is still online, is riddled with errors. Noem claimed that the incident was an attempt to murder law enforcement officers. She has still not retracted that statement. The story told by the government, and even used to justify criminal charges, is almost the opposite of what happened. It is only video evidence that exposed the government's lies that is preventing two innocent men from being imprisoned.

There are two fundamental problems here. The first starts with Trump. Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for police who are "tough," even beyond what is reasonable or lawful. In addition, Trump has assured law enforcement personnel that he has their backs. This has created an atmosphere of impunity among police at all levels, but especially those within the federal government. Exum shot an innocent woman and lied about it, but received nothing but praise from his superiors, including "El Jefe." The shooting occurred in October, but it was only recently that he was placed on administrative leave and investigated. It is still very unlikely that he will face any punishment whatsoever.

The second issue is the lack of identification displayed by federal agents. ICE and Border Patrol agents generally mask. Their names and badges are not visible. Often it is impossible to even know with which agency they are affiliated. Victims of these agents have little recourse if they are unlawfully harmed. Martinez was lucky enough to identify Exum and will likely be taking her own legal action soon. I don't know if Sosa-Celis knows who shot him. But, even if the agents involved are identified, the law provides almost no legal recourse. The result is a group of unaccountable thugs who feel free to shoot members of the public with almost no concern that they will be held responsible. To the contrary, they can count on their leadership to protect them.

Sadly, there is very little that can be done about this current state of affairs. If the Democrats capture the House or Senate, or even both, in November, they can potentially pass bills to place constraints on federal agents. However, Trump would simply veto such legislation. As such, there is almost no legislative way to rein in ICE and CBP. There may be some hope in the Courts, certainly the judicial system helped in the two cases I have described above. But, at a minimum, the press should stop believing anything that comes out of federal agencies, especially DHS. All of them are liars and should be treated as such. Government officials in this administration should be given the credibility that they deserve, which is none.