US citizen arrested in Sacramento immigration raid faces vandalism charge

A U.S. citizen whose dramatic arrest by Customs and Border Protection officers during a Sacramento immigration raid was captured on video made his first appearance in federal court on Wednesday to face a misdemeanor vandalism charge.

Jose Manuel Castillo, 31, is accused of puncturing a tire on a Ford Expedition owned by the federal government, a misdemeanor charge that carries a sentence of up to one year in prison, a $100,000 fine and a year of supervised release.

Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Delaney read the charge against Castillo, who appeared in court in Sacramento wearing a black shirt, light gray pants and light gray eyeglasses. His wife, Andrea, was at his side.

Castillo will defend himself against the charge and is planning to enter a plea of not guilty during his next court appearance, which will be scheduled after his case is assigned to a judge, said Sacramento defense attorney Mark Reichel, who is representing him.

Castillo made headlines on July 17, after his wife recorded CBP officers wearing black masks and camouflage gear chasing him through the parking lot of a Home Depot store in south Sacramento, where they were conducting an immigration raid targeting day laborers. Castillo, who was born and raised in Sacramento, was there as a volunteer for the organization NorCal Resist, which opposes the immigration raids and seeks to document them.

“He is a U.S. citizen,” she screamed in the background as her husband ran frantically through the parking lot.

After officers wrestled Castillo to the ground he was detained at a facility in Stockton for about 12 hours, Reichel said Wednesday. Reichel said he was beaten.

Prosecutors said Castillo was chased and detained because he punctured a tire on one of their vehicles. He was released from custody after the half-day detention and charged in federal court on July 25 with vandalism.

In an affidavit filed as part of the federal complaint against Castillo, Homeland Security Investigations special agent Tyler Breeding said Castillo began shouting in the faces of agents conducting the raids and yelling obscenities at them.

“Agents then saw Castillo approach the rear passenger side of a CBP vehicle,” Breeding said. “Two agents — while standing approximately five feet away from the vehicle — heard a pop and a loud hissing noise coming from the vehicle.”

At that time, agents saw Castillo about 15 to 20 feet away from the vehicle and ordered him to stop. Castillo ran, they said, and agents chased and ultimately arrested him.

At the facility in Stockton, they found a small knife in his pocket that matched the size of a hole that had been punctured in the tire of the Expedition, Breeding said in his affidavit. Experts say Border Patrol agents, as sworn law enforcement officers, are empowered to make arrests of U.S. citizens whom they believe have committed crimes.

But Reichel said in an interview that the government had thus far provided no evidence proving that Castillo punctured the tire. He said the case was part of a broader trend by Trump administration officials to arrest U.S. citizens in immigration raids based on their appearance or other reasons, and later charge them with crimes.

He noted that the U.S. Department of Justice announced the charge against Castillo in a news release. Reichel remarked that such a minor violation is rarely made public in that way.

Castillo has no criminal record, he said, and is gainfully employed.

This story was originally published August 20, 2025 at 3:43 PM.

Sharon Bernstein

The Sacramento Bee

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Sharon Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Sacramento Bee. She has reported and edited for news organizations across California, including the Los Angeles Times, Reuters and Cityside Journalism Initiative. She grew up in Dallas and earned her master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley. She has served on teams that have won three Pulitzer prizes.