Second Protester Blinded After Federal Officers Fired Into Anti-ICE Rally in California

A second protester was blinded after federal officers fired projectiles into a crowd during an anti-ICE rally outside a federal building in Santa Ana, California, according to witness accounts, video footage and statements from those injured, reported by The Los Angeles Times.

Britain Rodriguez, a 31-year-old Orange County resident, said he was standing at the bottom of a staircase with other demonstrators on Jan. 9 when officers positioned above opened fire without warning, striking him in the face.

"I remember hitting the ground and feeling like my eye exploded in my head," Rodriguez told The LA Times. Video shared with The Times shows him on the ground screaming, "I can't see, I got shot in the eye," while holding his face as blood is visible on his hand.

Rodriguez's girlfriend, Ale, said she was struck in the chest by a projectile but was not seriously injured. She said Rodriguez had been holding a sign reading "Stop kidnapping my neighbors" and a candle, adding, "I am no threat to any of those guys."

Video from the scene suggests Rodriguez was hit at roughly the same moment as 21-year-old Kaden Rummler, who was blinded in his left eye during the same confrontation. Rummler's injury was first reported earlier this week. In a statement read by members of the protest group Dare to Struggle, Rummler said doctors removed fragments of plastic from his eye and found metal lodged near his carotid artery. "I will never see through my left eye again," he said.

The protest followed the killing of Renee Good, a Minnesota mother of three, and was part of a broader wave of demonstrations against the Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies. Hundreds marched through downtown Santa Ana before a smaller group remained outside the federal immigration building in the evening.

Videos reviewed by media outlets show demonstrators shouting and, at one point, orange traffic cones rolling or being tossed toward officers. The Santa Ana Police Department said the only physical confrontation it was aware of involved the cones. Protesters interviewed said the cones did not come close to hitting officers and denied throwing rocks or bottles.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin disputed accounts from protesters to The Times, calling the gathering a violent riot. "This is absurd," she said in a statement, adding that officers were attacked and that injured demonstrators were treated and released.

Doctors told Rodriguez that the projectile damaged his iris, cornea and lens, leaving him with a cataract and uncertain prospects for regaining vision. He said he has been unable to work or drive and will require surgery. Despite the injury, Rodriguez said he plans to continue protesting once he recovers. "This is not the country that I want to live in," he said.