A pastor hit in the face by a projectile while protesting immigration enforcement outside the U.S. Coast Guard base in Alameda, California, has accused a federal agent of intentionally targeting him, saying “he wanted to cause harm to me.”
Rev. Jorge Bautista, a local pastor and member of an interfaith group that joined Thursday’s demonstration on October 24, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was struck by an agent only a few feet away. Photos captured by the outlet following the incident refer to the projectile as an “apparent pepper round.”
Protesters clashed with federal agents outside the Alameda Coast Guard base, chanting and blocking entrances as officers fired projectiles and tried to push the crowd back
Why It Matters
The incident occurs amid ongoing tensions surrounding the federal law enforcement presence at facilities in California and across the country. President Donald Trump’s administration is enacting hard-line mass deportation plans to carry out widespread immigration arrests and removals.
What To Know
Bautista, who is a pastor at an Oakland church, told reporters after the incident, according to CBS San Francisco: “I obviously was shot with whatever that Border Patrol had. And I came to say we came in peace, and he didn’t care. There’s nothing else to say—he wanted to cause harm to me…