The Department of Homeland Security has changed its account of an immigration enforcement-related shooting in a Baltimore suburb on Christmas Eve after details in its initial statement were contradicted by local police.
On December 24, DHS released a statement that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers “defensively shot” at a van occupied by two undocumented immigrants during an enforcement operation in Glen Burnie, Maryland, after the driver rammed an ICE vehicle while attempting to flee and “then attempted to run his van directly over ICE officers.”
According to the original statement from DHS, the driver was shot and injured, and the passenger was injured when the van crashed seconds later.
The department now says the injured person was not in the van but “was a passenger in an ICE vehicle,” according to a new statement from DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin to CNN.
The changed account comes as DHS faces increased scrutiny over the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE agent last week — and more broadly over the veracity of information the department kept about the actions of federal officials during President Donald Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown.
New details on the Maryland ICE shooting were first announced Thursday by the Anne Arundel County Police Department, which is investigating the incident.
“To clarify preliminary information publicly released on the December 24, 2025 shooting involving ICE agents in Glen Burnie, Maryland: One ICE detainer injured during the incident was already in custody in an ICE vehicle, and another person was shot and killed while operating a separate vehicle,” police said.
Anne Arundel County police said the incident remains under investigation and stressed that its officers do not enforce immigration laws or conduct ICE operations.
ICE officers were conducting a “targeted immigration enforcement operation” in Glen Burnie when they encountered the van, McLaughlin said.
The two undocumented immigrants who were now in the ICE vehicle were identified as Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martin, a Portuguese man driving the van, and Solomon Antonio Serrano-Esquivel, a Salvadoran national.
Officers approached the van and told Sosa-Martin to turn off the engine, but he refused and attempted to leave the scene, ramming the ICE vehicles, and “then (then) his van drove directly into the ICE officers,” McLaughlin said.
“Fearing for their lives and public safety, the officers defensively fired their service weapons, striking the driver,” she said.
Sousa-Martins then crashed his car between two buildings, McLaughlin said, although photos posted by DHS on X on the day of the incident show the white van crashing into a tree. DHS has not responded to CNN’s request for clarification on that detail.
Officers immediately provided medical attention to the two men and took them to a hospital, McLaughlin said, adding that neither ICE agent was injured.
According to ICE detainer records, Sousa-Martins is currently being held at a detention center in Bowling Green, Virginia. Serrano-Esquivel “was treated for whiplash at the hospital” the day of the incident and “is currently in ICE custody,” DHS said Monday.
The December incident is one in a series of violent encounters involving federal officials since Trump stepped up immigration enforcement during his second term.
Last week’s fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good — a 37-year-old mother who was in her car when she was shot — has sparked outrage and massive protests both in Minneapolis and across the country. A day after Goode was killed, a Border Patrol agent shot and wounded two men in Portland, Oregon, who authorities said were linked to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
As with the Maryland incident, DHS officials accuse both Good and the driver in Portland of “weaponizing” their vehicles and targeting law enforcement.
CNN’s Taylor Romine contributed to this report.
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