Where’s the warrant?
That’s the question two teens repeatedly asked with increasing emotion as one filmed two plainclothes ICE officers trying to arrest their father on the side of a highway in East Wenatchee last summer— a confrontation that quickly escalated.
Hector Saul Iraheta-Mercado was arrested on July 8, 2025 and is now facing a federal jury trial for the second time on a charge of assaulting one of the ICE officers that arrested him, Jaimie Waite, after he allegedly rolled his window up trapping the officer’s arm.
On Friday, Waite testified in court not only about what happened that day but also about one of the many prejudiced posts RANGE found this week.
“I will permit this line of inquiry given the nature of his work… as the vast majority of his duties include enforcement actions against individuals who don’t have legal status,” Judge Mary Dimke said. “It’s evidence of bias.”
RANGE has been following trial proceedings since they began Wednesday. Over the last two days, the jury has heard opening statements, watched a video of the arrest and sat through some testimonies and cross-examinations, including those of the two ICE officers who made the arrest.
Before opening statements began on Thursday, Judge Mary Dimke reminded the 14-member jury that the government has three main things they need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt:
- that Iraheta-Mercado forcibly assaulted Waite,
- that this assault happened while Waite was engaged in his official duties,
- and that he inflicted actual bodily injury.
The prosecution has argued that Iraheta-Mercado understood what was happening, that he knew Jaimie Waite and Andrew Johnson were ICE agents and that he willfully pinned Waite’s arm in the car window twice.
Iraheta-Mercado made “choice after choice” in an effort to evade arrest, prosecuting attorney Ann Wick said.
In contrast, the defense has argued that the ICE agents weren't clearly identifiable, that Iraheta-Mercado didn't speak English and was receiving rapid fire, conflicting commands in a chaotic situation and did not willfully pin Waite’s arm in his window.
Defense attorney Carter Powers Beggs also asked the jury to make note that Johnson does not try to give commands in Spanish, despite his proficiency, that the car never moves and neither officer explained their true intention until after two windows were broken.
“It took officers seconds to draw firearms and minutes to explain why they were there that day,” Powers Beggs said.
What the video shows
The video, submitted as evidence, was taken by one of Iraheta-Mercado’s children.
(The following account is based on what two RANGE reporters saw in the courtroom on Thursday and is not a comprehensive analysis of what transpired.)
The video appears to start after Waite told Iraheta-Mercado to step out of his car.
Waite can be seen reaching into the window and the daughter can be heard saying something like, “there’s no reason you should be doing this.”
It appears that Johnson tells Iraheta-Mercado to turn off the car or he’s gonna get shot, pointing the gun at Iraheta-Mercado, who puts up his hands.
At some point, Iraheta-Mercado can be heard asking one of his children to take a video of what’s happening in Spanish.
About a minute into the video, a still image shared in court shows Waite leaning into the car with a baseball cap that Johnson said displayed an ICE shield. Another still shows Waite pointing his gun with his one hand and Johnson testifies that Waite’s other arm was trapped, but it’s not visible in the image.
The two officers are yelling at him while pointing their guns. The daughter can be heard saying that they shouldn’t be doing that.
Then Waite reaches in again and tells Iraheta-Mercado that he’s resisting arrest.
Iraheta-Mercado’s daughter says something to the effect of, “there’s no reason for arrest, you guys pulled us over for no reason.”
The agents then break the car’s windows. Iraheta-Mercado’s children repeatedly ask for a warrant as the agents open both of the car doors and the daughter can be heard saying “that’s not right, where’s the warrant.”
One of the teens in the back says “you can’t do that” and it appears one of the agent’s says “I just did.”
Waite then yells for Iraheta-Mercado to get out of the car. One of his children says they can’t do that and Waite responds with something like, “yes we can. Do you want us to do it to all of you?” (An official transcription shown later attributes that statement to Johnson, who disputed that and said Waite was the speaker).
One of the teens says “don’t touch my dad.”
Waite appears to grab Iraheta-Mercado by the neck as he tries to remain inside the car with both agents trying to pull him out. They eventually do. The agents tell the teens to step back. Hector speaks in Spanish as the agents continue to give him commands in English.
One of the teens tells the agents that his father is trying to comply but an agent is heard saying “no, he’s not.” The agents then pin his hands behind his back and one of the teens tell the agents they’re hurting him and it appears that Waite says “because he’s resisting.” Iraheta-Mercado continues to say something in Spanish.
With Iraheta-Mercado out of the car, Johnson also appears to be holding the base of his neck (though Johnson testified his hand was on the chest) as Waite points an OC pepper spray can at Iraheta-Mercado’s face. It does not appear anything was sprayed.|
They eventually handcuff Iraheta-Mercado.
He also said that the teens asked for a warrant 11 times. For one of those requests, his response was: “I don’t have to give you shit right now.” He said he regrets that, but that he used that language because he was upset.
“Once the arrest was complete, the scene was much safer, so we had time to show the warrant to the female passenger who was asking for it,” he said.
For his part, Waite testified: “I did not feel it would help the scene to engage in conversation with passengers …I didn't see how that would help.”
He said his response of “Do you want us to do it to all of you?” was meant to threaten an arrest if they obstructed or interfered.
Wick also showed a series of grainy stills from the video, showing an arm on the gear shift and the dashboard.
During cross-examination, Johnson testified that he did not see Iraheta-Mercado turn the car on or shift the car into gear, but heard the car start and a click and assumed that was the case.
Waite, who’s been an ICE officer since 2012, said that the first time his arm was caught by the window was when he reached into the car after he told Iraheta-Mercado to step out and he didn’t. He said the second time was when the window was lowered and he tried to reach further into the car.
He also testified on a still image where he appears to grab Iraheta-Mercado’s neck. Waite said he did not apply force and was going for Iraheta-Mercado’s back for leverage but failed.
Where the warrant came from
The warrant the officers ended up showing to the family stems from an incident about 20 years ago. In April 2006, Iraheta-Mercado was apprehended from a Greyhound bus with three other people at a border-patrol checkpoint in Texas. During Johnson’s cross-examination, Lonergan used that to show that his client remained peaceful with uniformed agents and was honest when questioned.
Three days later, a criminal complaint was filed charging him with unlawful entry into the U.S., which is a federal misdemeanor if it’s the first entry.
Iraheta-Mercado was released under his own recognizance and instructed to report to a Los Angeles immigration office a few months later, according to a document. Two years later, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) filed an order of removal in absentia. An arrest warrant was issued for him based on this order 17 years later.
In court, Johnson said that the warrant was issued by his superior because there was probable cause that Iraheta-Mercado lacked legal status based on a records check. He didn’t know if there had been any effort from the U.S. to contact Iraheta-Mercado and he said he never saw a copy of a document notifying Iraheta-Mercado of the order.
Johnson said he learned of Iraheta-Mercado’s whereabouts using an app that aggregates data from several sources, mainly immigration and federal, to generate leads.
Attorney Justin Lonergan, also representing Iraheta-Mercado, was not able to question Johnson about the Washington DOL illegally giving ICE access to his information last July because Dimke ruled that evidence inadmissible.
The jury also saw a “baseball card” Johnson had created for Iraheta-Mercado that showed his last known address, date of birth, mentioned his deportation order but no felony history or additional information.
In trial preparations, the prosecution had indicated they planned to discuss Iraheta-Mercado’s false identification in relation to employment, which was not discovered in his first trial. This was done in an attempt to go against evidence of Iraheta-Mercado’s good behavior and peaceful residency in the US.
Ana Chavez, the human resources director for agricultural company McDougall & Sons, was subpoenaed by the prosecution to testify Thursday. She affirmed that Iraheta-Mercado had used a false green card and Social Security card in his application with the company. Also presented with Chavez was the defendant’s job application, where he had filled out some of the bilingual forms in Spanish and used “mecánico” instead of “mechanic,” bolstering his language defense.
In the cross-examination of Johnson, he said there was no indication that Iraheta-Mercado tried to use an alias when he was stopped by the officers.
Going undercover — who’s arresting me?
During cross-examination, the jury learned that Johnson visited Iraheta-Mercado’s residence several times before the arrest — this was his case. Johnson said he’d been doing covert surveillance near the area when he spotted Iraheta-Mercado in the vehicle registered to him and followed him to a second residence, but didn’t follow him after and instead requested Waite’s assistance.
“We didn’t want to show our presence until we wanted to affect (the arrest),” he said.
Waite ended up making the call to pull over Iraheta-Mercado on a stretch of highway, Johnson said, despite the safety risks.
The prosecution submitted a video of what the emergency lights looked like on Waite’s dark-tinted mini-van. They were located on the front grill and dash but both appeared hardly visible when flashing.
Wick, the prosecutor, asked why Johnson didn’t tell the family about the warrant.
“The primary reason is to complete the encounter as fast as possible,” Johnson responded. “In my experience the back and forth can turn into a circulatory argument that delays.”
He also said he was worried about independent countersurveillance groups showing up and filming the incident, creating more of a hazard.
Johnson also testified that the arrest was “not planned.”
Both officers drove unmarked vehicles and were in plainclothes, and the defense questioned if they were identifiable to the people in the car.
Agent questioned about bias for social media post
Waite testified about a meme he reposted about wanting ICE to use manure guns with the “hmm” emoji.
“I just thought it was a strange article about manure guns,” he said in court.
He said he didn’t think the article mentioned ICE guns and wasn’t suggesting that the agency do that. Waite testified that it was from 2020, but it was shared in October 2025.
The defense had requested the post be admitted into evidence to be used as impeachment evidence against Waite’s credibility.
“You have every option of ignoring an offensive article but chose to repost this?” Lonergan asked during cross examination.
Waite affirmed.
The result of arm vs car window
On Friday, prosecution showed photos of the injuries Waite sustained during the arrest like bruising, scratches and scrapes. He testified some of those were from the broken window glass and Iraheta-Mercado slapping his hand away.
“It affected my mobility quite a bit. It was very sensitive. Moving it hurt and touching it hurt for a week or 10 days,” he said of the large colorful bruises on his forearm.
He said he sought medical attention for his injuries.
During cross-examination, Lonergan questioned Waite’s assertion about the cuts he said were caused by Iraheta-Mercado.
“You can’t say with certainty that him slapping you caused cuts on your hand,” Lonergan posed.
“I can agree to that,” Waite responded.
After the jury was excused on Friday, Powers Beggs motioned for Rule 29, meaning he was requesting the judge to dismiss the case entirely for lack of evidence.
Dimke denied it. She said there was sufficient evidence to send the case to the jury, that there was no question that Waite was acting in his official capacity or that bodily injury was inflicted.
The only issue in contention is forcible assault.
The defense is expected to bring its first witness Monday.
Erin Sellers contributed to this report.
