JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida has revealed new details involving the arrest of a Jacksonville woman who was recently arrested following an encounter between her, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE).
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According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Jennifer Susan Cruz, 40, faces a charge by complaint for assaulting officers conducting an immigration operation. If convicted, Cruz faces a maximum penalty of eight years in federal prison.
The Justice Department clarified that a complaint is “merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law.”
The complaint states that federal immigration officers, who were being assisted by FHP troopers, were operating immigration enforcement in Jacksonville when Cruz drove by and began recording an FHP trooper who was pulling another vehicle over for a traffic stop.
Immigration officers later determined that the two people inside the vehicle being pulled over for the traffic stop were in the United States illegally, the complaint said.
Officials say Cruz parked near where the traffic stop was being conducted and began yelling at the trooper as she continued to record the incident on her cellphone.
A trooper then approached Cruz to discuss her using her cellphone while driving, and for her driver’s license. Cruz said she didn’t have her driver’s license, only a picture.
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The complaint continues to say that at this point, Cruz was “argumentative, standoffish, and continued recording.”
“The Trooper advised Cruz that he had no issue with her recording and that his concern was solely her unsafe and unlawful use of a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
It is then noted that Cruz began making unsolicited and inflammatory comments directed toward the trooper, including whether they “supported the Nazis” and pleading with the trooper to not shoot her in the face.
After showing the trooper a picture of her license, the trooper ran a record check, which revealed that her license was suspended since June 17, 2025. The trooper then requested a tow truck to impound her vehicle.
As they were waiting for the tow truck, officials say Cruz drove away, which prompted law enforcement to activate their emergency sirens and follow her. The report states that Cruz was stopped about 200 feet away from where the stop was initiated.
Troopers informed Cruz of her suspended license and instructed her to exit her vehicle and give them her keys. Officials say that when she exited the vehicle, she became “verbally hostile” and claimed that she was “ready to go.”
When a trooper attempted to take Cruz’s keys, she “struck them in the face with a closed fist.”
When multiple officers attempted to arrest her for the strike, she reportedly tried to kick and strike the other officers, including an ICE officer, whose left hand was injured in the incident.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office writes that as Cruz was being transported, she said her actions weren’t worth escalating “over a set of car keys.” She also was heard on a phone call saying that she “messed up really ugly” and that her actions were not okay.
She also apologized to the trooper she struck, adding that she understood that they had a job to do and was unsure why she acted the way she did.
The situation captured the attention of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and Governor Ron DeSantis, with the former stating on X that Cruz committed “a few felonies” during her interaction with law enforcement.
This is Jennifer Cruz of Jacksonville. Jennifer disagrees with immigration enforcement and decided to commit a few felonies by getting out of her car and punching a Trooper in the face.
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) January 15, 2026
But unlike Minnesota, we don’t put up with this nonsense. Not today, Jennifer. pic.twitter.com/vw28UPJ9Kn
Additionally, Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was in Jacksonville on Thursday for a health-related news conference, was asked about the recent reports of increased ICE operations in Northeast Florida and mentioned Cardona’s situation.
“You had that one woman in the City of Jacksonville’s government...that’s not the way we roll in Florida, we’re going to respect law enforcement... and if you want an open border or an amnesty, I wouldn’t support that, but there’s a process,” the governor said.
News4JAX has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) multiple times in the last two days to get more information regarding the reported increased ICE presence in the area, as well as the number of arrests, but it has not responded to our requests.