On April 7, Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez was pulled over on his way to a job rehabilitating fire-damaged buildings in Patterson, California. ICE agents shot him more than six times. One bullet hit him in the face.

Then DHS called him a gang member wanted for murder.

It was not true.

DHS accused Hernandez of being an 18th Street Gang member wanted in El Salvador in connection with a murder. His attorney disputed the claims immediately. The gang is associated with Los Angeles, a city Hernandez has no connection to. El Salvador court records show he was accused of murder there and acquitted.

When the DOJ filed its complaint, the gang and murder claims were gone. Quietly dropped. No explanation.

Dash-cam footage from a nearby car shows Hernandez reversing away from officers as two agents pointed firearms at him. A second witness told reporters that ICE fired the first shot before the car moved. Hernandez has said he only drove forward after he was already shot, to flee the bullets.

He has a two-year-old daughter. His partner is a US citizen. His daughter can barely sleep because she is used to her father putting her to bed.

Now he is facing 20 years in prison on an assault charge based on claims the government itself has abandoned.

This is not an isolated incident. DHS has a documented pattern of making false claims about people its officers shoot, then quietly walking them back when the facts don't hold up.

We are calling on the DOJ to drop the charges against Carlos Hernandez and calling for a full independent investigation into the shooting and DHS's false statements.

Sign this petition and demand justice for Carlos Hernandez and his family.