Christian Cerna, a 28-year-old US citizen and carpenter from Paramount, California, was arrested by ICE on June 11, 2025, after participating in an anti-ICE protest near a Home Depot on June 7. Officers used aggressive tactics including ramming his vehicle, detonating flash-bang grenades, and pointing assault rifles at his car while his partner and two young children were inside; court records show the arrest operation involved a drone, four vehicles, and a filming crew. Cerna, whose father was deported when he was 12, was charged with felony assault after border agent Eduardo Mejorado alleged Cerna struck him during the protest, though Cerna and his lawyers say he swung his hand without making contact; he was also struck in the face by pepper balls during the demonstration. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor simple assault in December 2025 and was sentenced in March 2026; a federal judge later criticized the case as a "vindictive effort" to impose extrajudicial punishment, and DHS filmed the arrest and posted footage on social media labeling Cerna a "violent rioter."