Early on Friday, October 10, a Fresno woman found a stranger asleep on her front lawn. Police say the man was a 32-year-old off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. When her 72-year-old father asked him to go, the agent appeared to be intoxicated and allegedly attacked him, then allegedly turned on the daughter when she stepped in to help. The father shot the agent, who was hospitalized in serious condition. He now faces felony assault charges.

A badge should never come with a different set of rules. Federal agents are trusted with enormous power, and that trust depends on them following the same laws as everyone else, on duty or off. When someone sworn to enforce the law is accused of violently assaulting a senior citizen and his daughter at their own home, the public deserves to see the case handled openly and fairly.

This isn’t about politics. Whether someone supports tougher immigration enforcement or wants to see it reformed, nobody benefits when people in uniform appear to be shielded from consequences. Equal treatment under the law protects good officers, too.

The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office should prosecute this case transparently, with no special treatment because of the defendant’s job. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, should open an independent review of the agent’s conduct, decide whether he should keep carrying a federal badge, and share its findings with the public.

Sign the petition to demand equal justice for this Fresno family while the case is still in its earliest days.