Undocumented immigrant shot by ICE officers in Maryland pleads guilty to federal charge
An undocumented immigrant from Portugal pleaded guilty to federal charges of damaging government property after he rammed into immigration vehicles while trying to drive away on Christmas Eve in Glen Burnie, Maryland. He was shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins, 30, was sentenced to time served, which was 103 days, according to the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. He was also ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution.
Charges of resisting, opposing, impeding or interfering with federal officers were dropped after a plea deal on the federal charge.
Federal prosecutors pushed for Sousa-Martins to serve up to six months in prison for endangering federal officers, but his attorneys asked the judge to sentence him to time served because no one else was injured, according to our media partner, The Baltimore Banner.
Sousa-Martins still faces immigration proceedings that could lead to his deportation, the Banner reports.
CBS News Baltimore reached out to Sousa-Martins' public defenders for comment.
Sousa-Martins run-in with immigration officers
Sousa-Martins says he was followed by ICE officers while conducting electrical work at a home in Glen Burnie on Dec. 24, 2025.
Court documents said ICE officers located a white van registered to Sousa-Martins in the parking lot of a Lowe's Home Improvement store in Severn, Maryland, and followed to a home in Glen Burnie.
ICE officers blocked the van and demanded that the driver get out. The driver refused to get out of the van, and the officers broke the window to try to get him out, according to documents.
Prosecutors said Sousa-Martins backed up, rammed into an officer's vehicle, and then drove forward toward other vehicles and officers. Three ICE officers fired shots, striking him in the shoulder and thigh areas, causing the van to crash between two homes.
"I was scared. I saw guns. I wasn't sure if they were police or immigration," Sousa-Martins said in court Monday, according to the Banner. "I thought I was a dead man."
Court records said two ICE vans had a combined $17,000 of damage.
CBS News Baltimore reached out to ICE for comment.
Sousa-Martins moved to Baltimore area in 2020
ICE said Sousa-Martins came to the U.S. in 2008. He attended high school in New Jersey before moving to the Baltimore area in 2020.
Court documents said he worked in several occupations, purchased a home and was taking steps to become a U.S. citizen.
