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, a official said.
Emiliano Garduño Gálvez, 23, got the time from United States District Judge André Birotte Jr., who blasted him for putting both the officers and other protesters in danger with the make-shift firebomb.
“This defendant’s reckless behavior threatened the lives and safety of law enforcement officers and that of a lawful protester,” First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said 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, Galvez 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.
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“Hiding behind a stone wall, Gálvez lit and threw a Molotov cocktail towards Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputies who were on duty in Paramount during the civil disorder,” the release noted.
“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 fire bomb Galvez threw ended up landing 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, where 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.”
Garduno-Galvez had already been deported from the US once, and was arrested twice in 2024. However, thanks to California’s sanctuary law he was out on the loose.