The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!
The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!

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Mexican migrant decides to attack ICE agents in Florida, finds out from AG: ‘This isn’t Minnesota’

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BS BULLETIN:

  • Florida authorities arrested Mexican national Maria Del Carmen Negrete Raya after a confrontation with ICE agents caught on video.
  • Authorities say she charged toward an ICE vehicle, tried to get inside and kicked and punched officers.
  • Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier had a three-word message after her arrest: “This isn’t Minnesota.”

Apparently somebody forgot to tell her she was in Florida.

Maria Del Carmen Negrete Raya, a 39-year-old Mexican national authorities say is in the country illegally, was arrested Thursday following a wild confrontation with ICE agents in Fort Myers.

And there’s video.

The incident happened Aug. 19 as ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers attempted to stop a vehicle registered to a non-U.S. citizen, according to Florida authorities. The occupants fled.

Then things got considerably more interesting. Authorities say Negrete Raya confronted the federal officers, charged toward their vehicle and attempted to enter it. Video circulating online appears to show her opening the door of the ICE vehicle as agents were trying to leave. The officers got out. A struggle followed. Florida authorities allege Negrete Raya kicked and punched the officers during the confrontation. One agent suffered a minor injury after being struck in the groin. ICE ultimately disengaged in an effort to de-escalate the situation.

But Florida wasn’t finished with her. Attorney General James Uthmeier’s Office of Statewide Prosecution opened an investigation. Then, early Thursday morning, authorities arrested Negrete Raya on three counts of battery on a law-enforcement officer.

Uthmeier announced it himself. “Federal officers are here to help defend America’s sovereignty, and our Office of Statewide Prosecution launched an investigation into this incident,” he wrote on X.

Then came the kicker: “This isn’t Minnesota.”

 “A physical attack on law enforcement is never acceptable and will not be tolerated in Lee County,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said. “She is learning an important civics lesson: The Constitution protects your right to speak if you disagree, but it does not protect you when you hit or kick, and that brings consequences.”

There’s another problem for Negrete Raya.

State officials say she entered the United States without inspection and filed an asylum application in 2023. And Florida prosecutors may use her immigration status to dramatically increase the potential penalties she faces. Under a Florida law allowing certain criminal charges against illegal migrants to be reclassified, authorities say each battery count could potentially become a second-degree felony punishable by as much as 15 years in prison.

Those remain allegations, of course. Negrete Raya is entitled to her day in court, and prosecutors will have to prove their case. But unlike a lot of these confrontations, this one didn’t disappear when the viral video stopped playing.

Florida watched the tape. Florida investigated. And a week later, Florida came knocking.

DBS WIRE SOURCES

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