San Diego activist pleads guilty to misdemeanor assault after unmasking federal agent at Linda Vista ICE raid
Jeane Wong said she hopes to provide context about how she felt the action was in self-defense at her sentencing hearing in March.
Written by Kate Morrissey, Edited by Lauren J. Mapp
An activist who has spent much of the past year patrolling San Diego communities for immigration enforcement and rallying outside the local detention center pleaded guilty on Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of assaulting a federal agent.
Jeane Wong, 56, who organizes SD Bike Brigade’s monitoring of school zones for signs of federal immigration officials, said she accepted a plea deal from the U.S. Attorney's office because she had unmasked an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer while at a Linda Vista apartment complex where officials had taken a Guatemalan man into custody in July of last year.
“I unmasked an agent. I didn't assault him,” Wong said. “I didn't know that would be called assault.”
The plea deal reduced the charge Wong faced from a felony to a misdemeanor. The maximum penalty for the misdemeanor is up to one year in prison and up to a $100,000 fine.
Federal immigration officials arrested Wong and three others in Linda Vista last July, all on charges of assaulting federal agents. Wong and the two other U.S. citizens said they were held overnight at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
Two of those cases have been dismissed, and one is still pending.
Initially, immigration officials took a Guatemalan man named Denis Anderson Chicoj-Yacon into custody on the morning of July 2 after surrounding him in his car. They initially charged him with assaulting a federal officer, claiming that he'd struck their vehicle with his car.
His was among the charges later dropped, and recently, in a hearing for another U.S. citizen arrested and charged with Wong, the attorney representing the federal government called the incident a “car accident.”
After officials took Chicoj-Yacon into custody, protesters gathered at the Linda Vista apartment complex. Among them was Wong.
A video shows Wong standing between another U.S. citizen named Raul Kuilon, who was also arrested that day and whose case was also later dismissed, and masked officials behind police tape. Wong steps close to the police tape. An official stands in front of Wong and puts his hands on her arm to move her. Kuilon moves in and blocks the camera angle from clearly showing their arms, and then Wong's hand pulls down the official's mask.
Wong called what the agent did to her before she unmasked him assault.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment.
On Thursday, Wong struggled in a federal courtroom filled with friends to agree to the facts of the case as outlined in the plea deal.
After Judge Jill L. Burkhardt asked about Wong's age, educational background and whether she was agreeing freely to the deal, Burkhardt read aloud the government's version of what happened.
On July 2, Burkhardt said, a special agent identified as M. Hogan was securing a scene involving immigration enforcement when Wong approached police tape at the scene perimeter. Hogan blocked her, Burkhardt said, and Wong struck his face with her hand.
The plea deal added that Wong had provided her vehicle to another person to follow Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in North Park after she was charged with assault. It's not clear why the government added that detail that is not about what happened in Linda Vista.
At first, Wong started to ask to explain herself to the judge, but her attorney stopped her. The two stepped into the hallway. When they returned, Burkhardt asked again if what she'd read was entirely true.
Wong breathed deeply several times, and, through tears, said, “Yes.”
Burkhardt turned to Wong's lawyer, Hector Tamayo, to make sure that Wong was pleading guilty knowingly and voluntarily.
“My impression reading her body language was not that Ms. Wong was hesitating — my impression was there was reluctance without providing further context,” Burkhardt said.
Tamayo and Wong both confirmed that she understood and would be prepared to provide context at her sentencing hearing in March.
“You have to say, ‘Is everything in this true?,’” Wong explained afterward. “And, that's so rough when you know that the details are not exactly on point.”
She said she would continue to stand up for immigrants and against ICE raids, but she will move differently to better protect herself.
“We had no idea that they could assault us, and we couldn't defend ourselves,” Wong said.
Wong has a related hearing regarding her bond in the case later this week. In January, she was among the protesters arrested in Mayor Todd Gloria's office during a sit-in to protest San Diego police showing up to ICE operations.
At the end of the hearing, Burkhardt wished Wong well.
“I hope you have no more troubles,” the judge said.
