Note: This story contains disturbing details.
Undated photo of Jose Paniagua Calderón, who his family said had his legs run over by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement truck while being detained on Dec. 4, 2025.
Courtesy of Carmen Paniagua
The Vancouver Police Department is investigating after a man appeared to have his legs run over by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement truck while being detained Thursday.
In a press release Friday, police said they became aware of the incident through a cellphone video circulated by community members. The video appears to show the man being struck by an ICE agent’s vehicle while being arrested.
According to The Columbian, the man, named Jose Paniagua Calderón, was detained in front of a Mexican restaurant on East 4th Plain Boulevard. Videos on social media show him screaming in pain as a silver-colored SUV drives over his legs.
Carmen Paniagua, who created a GoFundMe campaign for Jose Paniagua, wrote that he is her brother-in-law. She said ICE agents denied him medical care and forced him inside their vehicle.
“Since then, our family has been left without clear answers about his condition, location, or whether he received the medical care he desperately needs. We have been searching hospital to hospital and are now fighting to make sure he is safe and treated with dignity,” she said in a written statement.
In an email to OPB around noon Sunday, ICE denies that its agents ran over Paniagua’s legs.
“After ICE officers applied wrist restraints, Paniagua launched into an Oscar-level performance, dramatically screaming while officers simply moved his vehicle off the roadway,” said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in the written statement. “He walked around normally immediately after without issue and received a full medical evaluation including multiple X-rays that showed ZERO fractures, dislocations or injuries. Pure theatre. No Injury.”
Paniagua’s family said he’s being detained at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.
Detentions by immigration enforcement have rapidly increased in the Pacific Northwest during the second Trump administration, with Oregon jurisdictions such as Washington County and Salem declaring emergencies over heightened ICE activity.
Related: ‘Detain first and ask questions later’: Oregon ICE arrests shot up in October
In Washington state, another alleged ICE detention and assault has raised concern from U.S. Sen. Patty Murray. She condemned what she called a “violent and unwarranted assault” on Wilmer Toledo-Martinez, a Vancouver resident who came to the U.S. at 15 and is married to a U.S. citizen. He was detained Nov. 14 and is now being held at the Tacoma ICE facility, according to Murray’s office.
“Wilmer was mauled by an ICE attack dog even though he has consistently explained that he was not resisting arrest or attempting to flee,” Murray said in a written statement Friday. “For hours afterward, he was denied even basic medical care following this unprovoked assault.”
Murray also calls upon ICE to release Paniagua. “ICE should not be free to inflict this kind of pain and suffering on innocent immigrants. This doesn’t make anyone safer,” she said in a written statement Saturday.
