U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has detained Julio Jimenez Lopez, the San Rafael gardener whose violent 2022 arrest by city police led to criminal charges against two officers and a $999,000 settlement.
Agents took Jimenez Lopez, 40, into custody Tuesday, Oct. 27, at Rafael Lumber and Building Supply in San Rafael, a family member told the Pacific Sun. The family member said agents were looking for someone else and did not ask his name until he was in their vehicle. ICE said in a statement that a targeted enforcement operation in San Rafael led to the detention of Jimenez Lopez and a second man, and that both will remain in custody pending removal.
“His civil rights have already been violated by the government once,” said Anthony Label, one of the attorneys who represented him in the civil case. “And now he's going through this again, and for what?”
Where the case stands
Jimenez Lopez is being held at the California City Detention Facility in Kern County, about 369 miles from San Rafael. The former prison is run by CoreCivic and is the state's largest immigration detention center. Marin County Public Defender David Sutton said his office filed a habeas corpus petition Friday asking a court to order his release, and it is working with his immigration lawyer on a possible U visa, which is available to some crime victims.
The 2022 arrest
In July 2022, officers stopped Jimenez Lopez and two other men for drinking beer after work on Windward Way in the Canal neighborhood. Body-camera video showed him handcuffed and bleeding after an officer tripped and punched him. He suffered a broken nose and a concussion. Prosecutors dropped the charges against him after reviewing the video and later charged both officers. One officer's felony counts were dismissed, and a Marin jury acquitted the other in October 2025. The city paid Jimenez Lopez $999,000 to settle his lawsuit.
The Marin Rapid Response Network says it documented 18 Marin residents detained by ICE in October, compared with 17 in all of 2025.