(NEWARK, NEW JERSEY) — ICE agents pursued a van through Newark on February 25, 2026, and the vehicle chase ended in a crash that injured three children riding to school and sent the driver to a hospital before agents took him into custody.
The crash happened around 8:20 a.m. at Clinton and Shanley Avenues, where the van driven by Christian Oswaldo Guevara-Guerra struck other vehicles, including a rideshare car carrying three siblings, officials and witnesses said.
Mayor Ras Baraka criticized the ICE pursuit as reckless and tied it to public-safety risks on streets still narrowed by post-blizzard snowbanks. “Somebody could have been killed in Newark today,” Baraka said, urging federal agents to follow local laws in dense neighborhoods.
The injured children rode in a red Toyota RAV4 Uber on the way to school, about a block from where the crash occurred. The van hit the rideshare vehicle and then struck another oncoming car, according to accounts shared after the collision.
The three siblings were identified as twins McKenzie and Mai Fontage, both described as around 14-15 years old, and their brother Eon/Javon Fontage, described as around 11-12. The children complained of pain after the impact, and emergency responders took them to University Hospital.
Javon Alen, identified as the children’s stepfather, said McKenzie suffered a broken ankle and head injury and Mai suffered an injured hip and punctured lung. Alen said all three children were in intensive care.
Guevara-Guerra also suffered injuries and went to a hospital before ICE took him into custody, officials said. The incident involved multiple vehicles, and the collision drew a crowd to the intersection as emergency personnel responded.
Baraka said the pursuit violated New Jersey state law that prohibits vehicle chases unless a suspect poses an imminent threat. He said the street conditions after the blizzard increased the danger and raised questions about how federal operations should work on Newark roads.
The mayor’s comments framed the crash as a test of how aggressively ICE agents should conduct enforcement actions in heavily populated areas where pedestrians, school traffic and narrowed lanes can quickly turn a chase into a wider public risk. Baraka urged federal officers to follow local laws during operations in the city.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security pushed back, describing the suspect and the moments leading up to the crash in sharply different terms. DHS described Guevara-Guerra as a “criminal illegal alien previously charged with receiving stolen property,” and said he made a “dangerous attempt to evade arrest.”
In DHS’s account, Guevara-Guerra rammed federal vehicles and struck civilian cars, including cars with children. DHS said agents took him into ICE custody after a head-on collision.
Newark Police confirmed the incident was an ICE operation and said local officers responded only to the crash, not the pursuit. The police statement added detail about what city officers did not do that morning, while leaving the chase itself to federal agents.
Videos shared by witnesses after the crash showed a chaotic scene near snowbanks that lined the street. The footage captured agents handcuffing someone while onlookers argued with agents and Newark police intervened, witnesses said.
Some witnesses described ICE agents pulling the driver from the van after the crash and alleged the driver was punched and dragged. The descriptions circulated widely as people gathered near the intersection and police arrived.
Accounts of the physical handling after the crash, including the allegations of punching and dragging, have not been verified through an official account released publicly. The videos and witness statements showed the presence of federal agents, nearby snowbanks and arguments between bystanders and officers as the situation unfolded.
The crash and the injuries to schoolchildren intensified anger among some residents and advocates who criticized immigration enforcement tactics in the city. Local advocate Winkelman condemned it as “yet another person’s detention” with severe consequences, adding to the outcry.
The children’s injuries and the timing of the crash—during the morning school commute—became the center of the local reaction, as family members and residents focused on what they described as avoidable danger. The confirmation that the injured passengers were siblings traveling together sharpened the sense of alarm in the hours after the collision.
Baraka’s criticism also sharpened a broader dispute over whether, and how, federal immigration enforcement operations should adapt to state and local standards when ICE agents conduct arrests in densely packed neighborhoods. His remarks pointed to New Jersey’s limits on chases absent an imminent threat and argued the pursuit did not meet that threshold.
DHS, by contrast, framed the enforcement action as an attempted arrest that turned dangerous when the driver tried to escape. The agency’s description emphasized the alleged ramming of federal vehicles and collisions with civilian cars, presenting the pursuit as a response to actions it said put people at risk.
The sequence of impacts described in accounts of the crash started with the gray van hitting the red Toyota RAV4 Uber carrying the three children, then striking another oncoming car. The rideshare detail underscored how a routine trip to school intersected with an enforcement operation moving at speed through city streets.
University Hospital treated the three children, and the suspect also went to a hospital before ICE custody, officials said. The accounts did not include a detailed medical update beyond the injuries described by the stepfather and the note that the children were reportedly in intensive care.
The mayor’s comments, the police statement, and DHS’s account left key points of the morning in dispute—especially whether the circumstances met the state’s threshold for a chase and how much discretion federal agents exercised in a crowded environment. The crash location, the involvement of schoolbound children, and the conditions after the blizzard made the stakes clear to residents at the scene.
The presence of Newark police, as captured on video and reflected in the police statement, also highlighted how quickly local officers can be pulled into the aftermath even when they are not involved in initiating or carrying out a federal pursuit. Police said they responded to the crash, not the pursuit, as bystanders argued and agents worked at the roadside.
The public reaction widened as clips and witness descriptions spread, including the allegations about what happened after the vehicles stopped. Those accounts, combined with the injuries to the children, pushed the episode beyond a traffic crash and into a debate about enforcement, discretion and public safety.
The incident also raised a policy question that city officials and residents have pressed repeatedly during clashes over immigration enforcement: whether federal agents should adhere to local pursuit limits and local public-safety standards during operations on city streets. Baraka’s criticism placed that question at the center of Newark’s response.
How agencies account for the pursuit will shape what follows, including any internal review, local or state inquiries, or civil claims that sometimes arise after serious crashes involving law enforcement operations. The immediate dispute, though, remained focused on the morning’s consequences: injured children taken from a rideshare to University Hospital, and a suspect hospitalized and then taken into ICE custody after a chase through Newark streets.
ICE and DHS spokespersons did not immediately respond to additional media inquiries, Newark Police said, as the city and federal officials offered competing descriptions of how the events unfolded.
Newark Mayor Condemns ICE Agents After Vehicle Chase Ends in Crash
An ICE pursuit in Newark resulted in a multi-vehicle crash, injuring three siblings aged 11 to 15. Mayor Ras Baraka accused federal agents of violating state pursuit laws, while DHS defended the operation, stating the suspect rammed vehicles to evade arrest. The incident has sparked a heated debate over federal enforcement tactics in populated urban areas and the safety of local residents.
