As Wilmer Menjivar pulled into work at Viper Auto Care on Friday morning, he knew something was off, according to his wife, Lily Gonzalez.
Unmarked cars had followed him there, she said, so he got out of his truck and went into the shop, locking the door behind him.
“He went into the place of business thinking he was going to be safe in there without a warrant,” Gonzalez said. “But, turns out, he wasn’t. That’s not what happened at all.”
Instead, federal law enforcement agents wearing Border Patrol tactical vests broke into the shop by smashing the windows of the front door. Then, they arrested Menjivar and his boss, shop owner Ismael Avalos.
When Gonzalez showed up, she asked agents to show her a warrant, and they told her they didn’t need one. A video that Gonzalez recorded of the encounter and posted online swept through the internet last weekend, garnering attention from at least three national politics accounts on the social media site X, with a combined 2.7 million views on those posts.
ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — which oversees Border Patrol — did not respond to questions about the arrests or the men’s locations.
Utah immigration attorney Kendall Moriarty, who is unaffiliated with the cases, said that the arrival of Border Patrol agents — who are a part of U.S. Customs and Border Protection — in the area was notable. CBP is a sister agency to ICE, but traditionally operates along borders and at ports of entry.
“We had heard that CBP had arrived in Utah to assist but not to what extent,” she said. “The fact that they entered a building without a warrant, this is new.”
The episode comes as the federal government has sharply stepped up arrests of undocumented people living in Utah over the past year, and raises questions about how and when agents can operate without a warrant.
Federal law enforcement agencies have recently made more allowances for warrantless arrests. In January, a whistleblower group unearthed a memo from ICE leadership telling agency personnel that an administrative warrant — signed by agency leaders, not a judge — was enough to enter a home.
Later in the month, another memo from ICE officials said agents could make warrantless arrests if they believed a target would likely leave the scene of an encounter if agents went to get a warrant.
Menjivar’s life in Utah
Gonzalez said she dashed to the auto shop once Menjivar called and tipped her off that he may have been getting detained. While she arrived too late to see her husband, she did witness Avalos’ arrest and captured it on camera.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
The video shows her asking agents about her husband’s whereabouts and accusing them of making illegal arrests. They took Avalos into custody despite her arguing that they should leave.
Menjivar came to the U.S. in 2012 from his native El Salvador, said Gonzalez, who was born in Utah. The two met in 2015 and have three children who are U.S. citizens.
Gonzalez said the couple has previously spoken with immigration attorneys in hopes of getting Menjivar legal immigration status, but opted to not go forward due to cost and the current political climate.
Utah immigration attorney Adam Crayk, who is representing both men, said Menjivar had a prior order for removal in his immigration case.
A search of state and federal court records in Utah found no cases under Menjivar’s name.
Auto shop owner taken
Seeing Avalos, the shop owner, “taken away feels unreal and deeply unfair,” his stepdaughter Betsi Camacho wrote on a GoFundMe page. “Our home feels incomplete without his laughter, his guidance and the strength he brings into every room. The uncertainty is heavy, and the silence he leaves behind is loud.”
On the GoFundMe page, Camacho said Avalos is a good father and husband as well as a steady provider for his family.
At a gathering of community members and activists outside the shop Monday evening, Camacho said Avalos was in the process of establishing residency here when he was arrested. He has four children who are U.S. citizens and has been in the country for over 25 years, Crayk said.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Melissa Seron Richardson, right, embraces Isela Cassidy as community members, family and activists gather at an auto shop in West Valley City on Monday, February. 2, 2026, after immigration agents arrested Cassidy’s brother and an employee there last week.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Community members, family and activists gather at an auto shop in West Valley City on Monday, February. 2, 2026, after immigration agents arrested two men there last week. The agents said they didn't need a warrant to break into the shop after a man went into it, according to video taken by Lily Gonzalez.
Kevin Sebastian, Avalos’ stepson, said it had been a stressful weekend for the family.
“It’s just really unfair,” Sebastian said. “He’s a great guy. He really doesn’t deserve this. Our family never thought this would happen. It’s just out of the blue.”
A search of state court records found four traffic citations and one dismissed misdemeanor charge under Avalos’ name. A search of juvenile court records, done by court officials at the request of The Salt Lake Tribune, did not turn up any publicly available cases involving either man.
According to Utah business records, Avalos established Viper Auto Care in 2017. Menjivar and Avalos were the only people working at the shop. On Monday evening, a sign on the since-repaired front door said the shop was closed. Sebastian said the family was trying to hire someone to run it in Avalos’ absence.
Federal immigration changes
Crayk said the legality of warrantless arrests can be complicated.
Federal agents typically need a judicial warrant to enter a space not accessible to the general public, he said. But law enforcement officials don’t always need one if they are pursuing someone, depending on whether there are so-called exigent circumstances surrounding the arrest, such as aspects of the location.
In Menjivar’s case, Viper Auto Care only has one way in and one way out.
“There is no exigency when there is no point of escape other than the very point in which you entered,” Crayk said.
The agents could have called the U.S. Attorney’s Office to get a judicial warrant while they waited outside the shop, he added. “You could have literally stayed on the scene,” Crayk said, “so that was a wanton disregard for property rights.”
Crayk was also critical of Avalos’ arrest for another reason: The agents expanded the scope of their search to Avalos after they had located their target, Menjivar. In Crayk’s eyes, the agents did not have reasonable suspicion to do that.
At the gathering outside the shop on Monday, Utah children’s book author Melissa Seron Richardson said she hoped to build some community in the aftermath of the arrests.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Isela Cassidy holds a poster as community members and activists gather at an auto shop in West Valley City on Monday, February. 2, 2026, after immigration agents arrested her brother and an employee there last week. The agents said they didn't need a warrant to break into the shop after a man went into it, according to video taken by Lily Gonzalez.
“I hate that they make us feel like we can’t trust each other,” she said, “or be together.”
She said the gathering was meant to show support for the men and their families. Some people at the shop held signs backing the men.
It was not immediately clear Monday where the two men were being held. They could not be found via ICE’s detainee locator. Camacho and Sebastian said they last heard that Avalos was being held in Wyoming.
Crayk said he planned to file a wrongful detention lawsuit against the federal government on Avalos’ behalf.
Gonzalez said that when she last talked to Menjivar, he was being held in Arizona.
She expected that Menjivar would be deported to El Salvador. “Me and my kids are the ones that would migrate to El Salvador,” she said, “and that just makes me sad.”