- A confrontation along I-15 in Roy sheds light on the sorts of showdowns occurring as the crackdown on illegal immigration unfolds.
- Two men with immigration detainers were taken into custody in the incident along with a U.S. citizen.
- A video of part of the confrontation is circulating on social media while court records also explain what happened in the incident.
ROY — A confrontation off I-15 in Roy last week involving federal immigration officials is just the latest of many incidents around Utah and the rest of the country as the ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration unfolds.
But the incident, partially caught on video, offers a glimpse into the sort of activity that is becoming more and more commonplace as part of President Donald Trump's mandate to detain and deport immigrants in the country illegally.
The suspects detained last week in a traffic stop off I-15 near 5600 South in Roy no longer appear in online jail records. Neither the Weber County Attorney's Office nor Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials responded to queries seeking comment about the men, identified in court records as Hugo Lezama Tellez, 28, and Diego Lezama Tellez, 22.
But the Utah Highway Patrol said in a statement last week that immigration officials had issued detainers to take custody of the two men. Detainers are typically issued when authorities believe the individuals targeted can be deported. And between Sunday and Monday, the two men were removed from the roster of the Weber County Jail, suggesting they have been released or moved to another facility.
The traffic stop on March 30 garnered attention as video of part of the confrontation, taken from inside the vehicle by a passenger,Anthony Valencia Morales, 18, started spreading via social media. The video shows a Department of Homeland Security agent outside the car, stopped along the I-15 off-ramp, demanding that Hugo Lezama, the driver, roll down the window of the truck.
Lezama doesn't comply, and amid back-and-forth shouting, the agent, aided by a newly arrived UHP trooper, breaks the front driver-side window and forces the man out as Valencia records the encounter.
"I'm recording for my safety. I don't got to do nothing, bro," Valencia tells the officials, repeatedly identifying himself as a U.S. citizen.
The video ends as the trooper approaches Valencia as he exits the truck. But all three men were detained, and court records offer additional insight into what transpired, at least from the perspective of the law enforcement agents involved. Valencia didn't respond to queries seeking comment.
The incident started about 8:15 a.m. on March 30 when a trooper — not the trooper who aided in detaining Valencia — clocked the Lezama vehicle, a pickup truck, going 90 mph in a 70 mph zone, according to a police booking affidavit. He was booked into jail for investigation of speeding and not having a driver's license and interfering with a peace officer.
Hugo Lezama said he didn't have a U.S. driver's license, showing instead "an electronic copy of his Mexico ID," reads the affidavit. The trooper reached out to a Weber County sheriff's deputy, which has a cooperative accord with ICE, for help. The deputy identified Hugo Lezama "as being a wanted person by immigration," according to the affidavit, and he arrived on the scene soon thereafter with two immigration agents.
At that point, Diego Lezama, sitting in the front passenger seat of the truck, exited the vehicle and fled.
The trooper pursued Diego Lezama, getting a ride from a passing motorist to catch up with him. "At that time I exited the citizen's vehicle and drew my service pistol, giving Diego commands to stop and get on the ground. He complied and sat down on the curb," the affidavit states. Diego Lezama was booked into jail for investigation of failing to stop at the command of a law enforcement officer.
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Voces de Utah
Looking for more news from Utah's Latino community? Visit our Voces de Utah section for more stories, events and features.Back at the vehicle, Hugo Lezama resisted after the DHS agent broke the car window, but the agent ultimately placed him in custody.
As for Valencia, he was booked for investigation of interfering with a peace officer. After Diego Lezama fled, drawing the attention of most of the officers present, the DHS agent held Hugo Lezama and Valencia, still inside the car, at gunpoint, at least for part of the time. He holstered his gun as the backup trooper arrived, according to an arrest report.
After breaking the window of the truck, as the DHS agent wrestled with Hugo Lezama, the trooper struggled with Valencia. "I continued to struggle with the passenger for a moment while giving him commands. The passenger eventually complied, and I was able to secure handcuffs on both wrists," the affidavit says.
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Tim Vandenack
