How a timid landscaper became entangled in a Maryland ICE shooting

Salomon Serrano Esquivel planned to spend Christmas Eve at home, enjoying a meal with family, then watching his two young children open presents.

But, as Serrano was on his way to his landscaping job in Southern Maryland that morning, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested the undocumented immigrant from El Salvador.

About an hour after his arrest, ICE agents pursued another immigrant, while Serrano, a timid 30-year-old man, sat handcuffed in the backseat. During the pursuit, Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins crashed his work van into the ICE vehicles and agents shot and injured him.

Serrano was also injured and hospitalized in the crash before being placed in ICE detention. Months later, federal prosecutors had him released from ICE custody on the condition that he testify in the criminal case brought against Sousa-Martins.

But this week Sousa-Martins pleaded guilty, and now Serrano could be detained again by ICE. The fate of his immigration case, and whether he’ll be able to stay in Maryland, is unclear.

Serrano’s testimony in the trial could have granted him a visa, but his immigration lawyer, Joyce Williams, said that “his cooperation with law enforcement” may still make him eligible for other forms of relief in immigration court and “could favorably impact his removal proceedings.”

Serrano was aware of the immigration crackdown under President Donald Trump and often thought he could be next. But he never could have predicted what happened. The shooting in Glen Burnie was one of many involving ICE that gained national attention, including two fatal shootings in Minneapolis weeks later.

Serrano told The Banner exclusively in March that he couldn’t talk about the shooting ahead of the trial, but he said he feared for the future and for being taken from his family.

A Christmas Eve turns violent in Glen Burnie

On the morning of Dec. 24, Serrano and his brother-in-law picked up landscaping equipment and were on their way to a job site.

“It was a normal day,” Serrano told The Banner in Spanish.

While they were driving on Route 4 in Southern Maryland, they saw police lights flashing behind them. Serrano’s brother-in-law pulled the truck over.

Unmarked vehicles swarmed the truck, and agents questioned Serrano’s brother-in-law about his immigration status. They then turned their questions to Serrano.

He was taken out of the vehicle, handcuffed and driven away.

Those ICE agents later spotted Sousa-Martins’ vehicle near a Lowe’s in Glen Burnie and ran his license plate, according to court documents.

With Serrano still in custody, ICE agents followed the Portuguese native and Maryland resident into a quiet neighborhood. They surrounded his van and approached him.

Sousa-Martins tried to flee, reversing and hitting an ICE vehicle, court documents said. The vehicle he struck then smashed into one behind it, with Serrano inside. His neck was injured in the collision.

Agents shot Sousa-Martins. He was critically injured.

On Monday, Sousa-Martins pleaded guilty to damaging government property. He faces deportation.

The Anne Arundel County Police Department investigation into the agent-involved shooting is “still open and ongoing,” said Marc Limansky, a spokesperson for the department.

While Serrano lay in a hospital bed, the Department of Homeland Security posted on its social media that Serrano had been riding in Sousa-Martins’ van as a passenger. It did not mention his earlier arrest.

Those close to him, stunned that the quiet man they knew was accused of being involved in an assault on federal officers, immediately began trying to clear his name.

Alex Major, a lawyer who spoke to Serrano in the hospital, told The Banner he was in ICE custody during the shooting, but ICE stuck to its story for weeks.

In January, the Anne Arundel County Police Department also disputed ICE’s account and confirmed Serrano was not in the vehicle with Sousa-Martins. ICE changed its story the following day.

Serrano and his future in Maryland are in limbo

Although Serrano reunited with his family in February, they worry he could be detained again now that the trial has ended.

Serrano has lived in the United States for more than a decade and wants to remain in Maryland.

“I don’t know what is going to happen in the future,” Serrano said. “And, well, that makes me feel a little sad to know that I could not be with my family.”

Months later, Serrano, who spoke only in brief phrases about what he had been through, said his loved ones have rallied around him. Several people helped keep his wife and two kids afloat financially while he was detained.

“We have always been a very close family,” said Serrano, who is the youngest of eight siblings, six of whom live in Maryland.

His family came from Las Cañas, a small town about three hours from the capital of San Salvador, a “very pretty” place to grow up, Serrano said. But the Central American country was embroiled in violence and its economy in a downward spiral.

Serrano left when he was 19. He said he traveled for a month across the border before reaching his siblings who had moved to Maryland.

“When I came here, I felt happy because I hadn’t seen my siblings for many years,” Serrano said, but he said he was also a bit shocked. “Almost everything is different. The streets, the houses, almost everything is different from where I lived.”

Serrano immediately began to work with his brother-in-law as a landscaper.

He later met his wife, and the couple had two children, one of whom is now in elementary school and the other a toddler who giggled and ran around the living room as her dad watched. When he was detained, Serrano feared he’d never see them again.

“What helped me be strong was that I had the support of my family every day,” he said. “I would talk with my wife and my kids, and that was the only thing that distracted me.”

When Serrano received news he might have a chance to return home, he “gave thanks to God.”

Serrano’s brother-in-law and a family friend picked him up from ICE custody Feb. 20. He hugged his wife and kids the moment he stepped through the front door.

But life at home has changed. Serrano no longer takes his kids on walks or to the local parks.

“A year ago, I didn’t have that fear of going out into the streets,” he said. “We never had that fear until recently.”

Serrano’s next immigration hearing is in early May. He said he remains hopeful.

“I put my hope in God,” he said. “Because I want to give my children a good future.”

Banner reporter Danny Zawodny contributed to this story.