Manhunt launched for fugitive migrant who tried to ram ICE officers with car
Mexican national Jose Mendez-Chavez, a pedophile who entered the US illegally at least a half-dozen times, was behind the wheel Thursday when he tried to slam into Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents near Colorado Springs, KMGH-TV News reported.
'Mendez was not an 'innocent victim,'' an ICE spokesperson told the outlet. 'He is an abuser who plays the system and is now wanted for assault on a federal officer.'
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3 ICE says they now have Francisco Zapata-Pacheco in custody.
ICE Denver
3 Teams of federal agents were staging an operation to capture two fugitives who tried to ram ICE agents and then fled by vehicle.
AP
The feds were conducting a raid at a construction site in Black Forest when they were attacked.
The agents fired three shots as the migrants sped away, but authorities nabbed the passenger in the vehicle, identified as Francisco Zapata-Pacheco, a few hours later.
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He is being held for deportation proceedings, KMGH said.
3 Jose Mendez-Chavez is still on the run.
ICE Denver
Meanwhile, ICE slammed the Colorado Rapid Response Network, a group that has been tipping off migrants about pending federal raids in the area, as 'despicable.'
'Two criminal aliens attempted to ram their vehicle into ICE officers during a targeted enforcement operation in Colorado Springs,' a department spokesperson said.
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'ICE officers are facing an 830% increase in assaults,' they said. 'Lies and violent rhetoric incite hostility against the brave men and women of ICE who put their lives on the line every day to protect American communities, as we witnessed in Colorado [on Thursday].'
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