A Mexican illegal immigrant who threw a Molotov cocktail at Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies during violent anti-ICE protests in 2025 has been sentenced to four years in federal prison, an official said.
Emiliano Garduño Gálvez, 23, received the sentence from United States District Judge André Birotte Jr., who criticized him for endangering both the officers and other protesters with the makeshift firebomb.
“This defendant’s reckless behavior threatened the lives and safety of law enforcement officers and that of a lawful protester,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli in a DOJ press release about the sentencing. “My office remains steadfast in its efforts to prosecute and punish those who commit acts of violence against others.”
In June 2025, Gálvez was part of a massive group that gathered in Paramount during what the DOJ labeled a “civil disorder,” which involved acts of violence that the Mexican national is accused of taking to the extreme.
Gálvez admitted he threw the Molotov cocktail intending to obstruct, interfere with, and impede the sheriff’s deputies who were lawfully engaged in their official duties.
The firebomb he threw landed in a grassy area near the foot of a protester in the crowd and approximately 15 feet from LASD deputies, before he fled the area. He was later taken into custody, where he remained until his trial in October. During the trial, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of an unregistered destructive device and one count of obstructing, impeding, or interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder.
“[Gálvez] threw an incendiary device capable of killing someone,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “And his destructive device came far closer to injuring a civilian holding a sign, as opposed to [Gálvez’s] intended target, the sheriff’s deputies.”
https://nypost.com/2026/01/30/us-news/illegal-immigrant-busted-for-anti-ice-riot-violence/
