Charges deferred in last case against US citizen arrested by ICE in Linda Vista
Trina Rupley reached an agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office that if she commits no crimes for a year, the charge of assaulting a federal officer will be dropped.
Written by Kate Morrissey, Edited by Lauren J. Mapp
The federal government has agreed to defer charges against the remaining U.S. citizen arrested in Linda Vista by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in July of last year.
The U.S. Attorney's Office signed an agreement with Trina Rupley that if she commits no crimes — federal, state, local or foreign — for a year, the prosecutor will drop the charge against her. Rupley was one of three U.S. citizens arrested at a Linda Vista apartment complex in July 2025 while witnessing an ICE operation. ICE also arrested a Guatemalan man at the complex that day.
Officials held the three U.S. citizens overnight at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The U.S. Attorney's Office charged all four people with assaulting a federal officer but soon dropped the charges against the Guatemalan man and one of the U.S. citizens.
In February, Jeane Wong took a plea deal for a misdemeanor version of the charge and was later sentenced to 45 days of house arrest.
Rupley's attorney initially appeared to be preparing to fight the charge against her. At several court hearings, he pushed for discovery documents relating to the immigration officials’ behavior that day.
But in late March, after the government offered to defer the charge, Rupley decided to accept. She declined to comment on the case because she still has to wait a year for the charge to drop.
In a short hearing on March 26, she told Judge Brian J. White that she had reviewed the agreement with her lawyer and that she understood its requirements. The decision means that she is free to travel and that pretrial services staff will no longer monitor her whereabouts.
The judge set a follow up hearing for March 25, 2027 to check on the case.
In the hallway, Rupley hugged family and friends who had come to support her.
“I feel free,” she said.
