Judge Olguin’s Controversial Rulings in Spotlight as ICE Assault Case Appeal Moves Forward

Fernando M. Olguin, a federal judge in California’s Central District, is at the center of a controversy after an appeal was filed against his dismissal of an immigration-related case. In December 2025, the judge dismissed a criminal case against Carlitos Ricardo Parias, an illegal Mexican immigrant.

Parias was arrested in October 2025, after he allegedly drove a car into federal agents during an immigration operation in Los Angeles. He was charged with assaulting a federal officer and depredation of government property. When the case reached court, Olguin dismissed it, citing that Parias was denied access to counsel during immigration detention.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, has now filed an appeal against the decision. In the filing, Essayli criticized Olguin’s order, arguing that it was not the first time the judge had challenged the government’s authority to prosecute. He said Olguin has a history of rejecting high-stakes cases.

One such case involved Nathan Wilson and Christopher Beasley, who were accused of setting a police vehicle on fire during protests after George Floyd’s death in 2020. During a 2022 hearing, Olguin sided with the defense and ordered prosecution to submit evidence supporting the charges against the two men.

When prosecutors declined, he dropped the case. However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals later reversed his decision. One judge even pointed out that Olguin had ‘far overstepped’ his boundaries. The charges against Wilson and Beasley have now been reinstated.

In another instance, Olguin dismissed a firearms case against an illegal immigrant. The case was linked to a large-scale theft of weapons from cargo trains. The immigrant had already been taken into ICE custody and deported before his trial.

Essayli has cited these two cases in his filing, but there have been other occasions as well where Olguin rejected prosecution’s claims. In 2022, he dismissed a lawsuit filed by Spencer Elden, who appeared on the cover of rock band Nirvana's album Nevermind as a baby. Elden alleged that the image amounted to child exploitation, but Olguin ruled he had waited too long to file the suit.

In Parias’s case, Olguin said authorities not only deprived the accused of legal counsel but also failed to submit federal agents’ body camera footage before the deadline. “By delaying production of the body camera footage, the government eliminated any possibility for the defense to review the footage with Mr. Parias,” the judge wrote.

“And with each passing day, the ability of defense counsel to meet with their client and prepare for trial was further undermined, resulting in even more prejudice to defendant,” he added. In his appeal, Essayli argued that Olguin dismissed Parias’s case in a premeditated move.

He claimed the judge had decided to free the immigrant even before ‘the parties ever set foot in his courtroom.’ A panel of judges will now look into the appeal and decide whether to reinstate the criminal case. Meanwhile, Parias remains detained at Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California.