San Diego activist sentenced to 45 days home arrest after pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault of immigration official
Jeane Wong will not serve prison time despite the prosecutor’s push for her to receive a one-year sentence.
Written by Kate Morrissey, Edited by Lauren J. Mapp
A federal judge sentenced San Diego activist Jeane Wong to 45 days of home detention and probation after she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of assaulting a federal officer.
The case began about eight months ago when Wong and several other activists responded to an apartment complex in Linda Vista where Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were in the parking lot. Wong ended up unmasking one of the ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents there. The government took four people into custody that day — three of them U.S. citizens — and held Wong and two others overnight in the basement of the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
“I pled guilty because I’m prepared to take responsibility for my actions,” Wong told Judge Allison Goddard during the sentencing hearing Thursday. “I’m 56, and I’ve never been convicted of a crime. This was a very hard thing to accept.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case’s outcome.
Wong told Goddard that she had unmasked someone who had not clearly identified themselves as a law enforcement officer after that agent and others assaulted another person present in the parking lot. ICE detained that man among the four it arrested that day, but the government dropped the charges against him and one other person.
Wong has been on home arrest for the past two weeks after attorney Evangeline Dech of the U.S. Attorney’s Office asked the judge to detain Wong following her guilty plea.
Wong told the judge that the time at home had helped her feel more grounded and given her an important perspective, and she thanked the judge for that.
“I’m not asking the court to excuse me,” Wong said. “I’m asking the court to see the bigger picture.”
“I do not intend to stand here again,” she added.
Dech pushed for Wong to serve one year in prison for the offense.
“This case is not about peaceful protest,” Dech told the judge prior to the sentencing.
Dech listed allegations against Wong that were separate from the Linda Vista incident, including allegations of spitting on someone, of being violent with agents at a separate confrontation in November and of being among the protesters arrested at the mayor’s office in January.
Wong said she had never spit on anyone and that a bad dental operation had left her without the ability to spit. As a preschool teacher, she felt particularly offended by the suggestion because she works hard to teach children not to spit on others.
Wong said that in November, immigration officials at the 47th Street Trolley Station threw her on a car and pepper sprayed her but that she hadn’t done anything violent toward them.
In the mayor's office, she said, protesters were careful not to cause any damage.
The agent whom Wong unmasked spoke virtually during the hearing, identifying himself as Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Matt Hogan. He called Wong and her supporters “deranged lunatics” and complained about “social justice warriors.”
While Hogan spoke, one person in the packed courtroom stood up and protested audibly before leaving.
Wong’s attorney Hector Tamayo told the judge that Hogan’s statement showed the prejudice and political motivation behind the agency’s actions.
Tamayo pointed to a document submitted by the government in the case after her guilty plea that revealed the existence of ICE’s Operation Road Flare, which tracks activists in San Diego who film immigration enforcement. He said that document, which showed that the federal government is monitoring Wong, made Wong afraid of retaliation by ICE if she were to spend an extended period of time on probation.
He requested that Wong instead be placed on home arrest for 30 days. Goddard decided to give Wong 45 days of home arrest similar to what Wong has lived for the past two weeks.
“Each of us is more than the worst thing we have ever done,” Goddard said, quoting Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer and activist.
The judge cautioned Wong to be careful when protesting.
“We’re in an intense situation as a society,” Goddard said during the hearing. “That’s not an excuse for making any contact with an officer.”
Goddard told Wong that if she continues to do her activism, she should do it in a way that doesn’t bring her back to court.
“I would much rather see you at Costco,” Goddard said.
After the hearing, a crowd of supporters applauded Wong as she walked with her attorney to meet with probation officials.
Wong will continue running her preschool business with her wife, who appeared visibly relieved that the ordeal was over.
Wong said she will continue to stand up to demand accountability from people in power.
“I do believe in the law,” Wong said. “I believe in the law, but I also believe in humanity. And those two things need to find their way back to each other.”
