A former police officer and tactical instructor from Nicaragua who is in the U.S. illegally has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for attacking a federal agent.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) just released key details about the case, including the violent criminal’s immigration history.
On March 5, 2025, Michel Manuel Garcia Rojas and his partner — also an illegal alien — were arrested for petit larceny and endangering the welfare of a child in Rotterdam, New York.
HSI agents attempted to apprehend both subjects immediately following their release from local custody, but Garcia Rojas managed to break free while handcuffed and a “violent fight” ensued.
Garcia Rojas, 39, repeatedly threw a Special Agent “into an exterior door inside a vestibule, which prevented police officers inside the building from coming to the agent’s aid.”
The agent, who suffered serious injuries, continued to calmly tell the screaming Garcia Rojas to “stop resisting” throughout the altercation, which was captured on video.
Garcia Rojas was eventually neutralized with the use of Tasers and taken into custody.
On Feb. 9, he pleaded guilty to indictment charging him with resisting, impeding and assaulting a federal officer engaged in official duties and inflicting bodily injury.
On June 17, Garcia Rojas was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison.
“This defendant, trained in defensive tactics, ran from federal agents, fought them and continued to resist in attempt to flee and attack law enforcement,” stated HSI Buffalo acting Special Agent in Charge Anthony Patrone.
“Across the nation and here in New York, law enforcement personnel — enforcing the laws as they exist — are operating in an increasingly complex and dangerous threat environment. Despite the growing threats, HSI remains resolute in our mission to protect our communities and uphold the law.”
Garcia Rojas illegally crossed the southern border into Brownsville, Texas, on July 1, 2023.
He was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol, issued a noticed to appear before a federal immigration judge in the future, and unleashed into the interior.
“The violent assault of a federal agent by a criminal alien, is the unfortunate result of the prior administrations failed immigration policies” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III.
“Thanks to the Laken Riley act, violent aliens such as this defendant can be detained and removed from our country. Let Mr. Garcias Rojas be an example to anyone who interferes with and/or assaults members of law enforcement – conducting lawful enforcement actions, this administration will leverage the resources of the federal government to enact justice and protect the American people.”
