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On Tuesday, a federal jury convicted a Haitian national of two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees and inflicting bodily injury after he bit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
The jury also convicted 29-year-old Jubenson Domenique of one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees involving physical contact.
Domenique faces a maximum penalty of 20 years for each count of inflicting bodily injury and eight years for the third count.
According to court documents and evidence, ICE officers were loading 112 Haitian nationals onto a contract aircraft in San Antonio bound for Port Au Prince, Haiti, in September 2021 when several individuals were involved in a disturbance.
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But the evidence pointed to Domenique as the main instigator.
According to the evidence, as officers extracted him from the aircraft, Domenique bit them, breaking the skin and leaving teeth marks on all three.
Emergency medical services responded, treated one officer at a local hospital, provided prescriptions, and began treatment and testing for possible infections, including six months of HIV treatment.
ICE’s Office of Professional and Responsibility (OPR) conducted the investigation that led to Domenique’s conviction.
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“This guilty verdict sends a strong message that this type of egregious behavior will not be tolerated,” said OPR Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Huerta.
“Protecting our ICE employees is paramount,” Huerta declared.
During the trial, Dominique’s defenders sought to convince the jury that someone else may have bitten the ICE agents during the chaotic incident.
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