Hyattsville police arrested Job Arias Mendoza for knife attacks 18 months before ICE detained him

A video of ICE agents struggling to arrest Job Arias Mendoza at the intersection of Hamilton St and Queens Chapel Rd on Sept. 24 2025 went viral last month, triggering a protest of ICE’s presence in the area.

According to police reports obtained by the Hyattsville Life & Times, Hyattsville police arrested Job Arias Mendoza March 30, 2024, near the West Hyattsville Aldi in the same general vicinity as last month’s ICE arrest, after witnesses and victims identified him as the person who attacked two people over two days with a large knife.

When officers first responded in the late morning of March 30, one victim had deep lacerations to his chest and was taken to the hospital. Witnesses said the victim and Arias Mendoza had been in a verbal argument over money. One of the witnesses had a severe cut on his middle finger and told police that Mendoza had cut him the night before in that same area after he had tried to defend a man lying on the ground whom Mendoza had kicked.

Hyattsville officers put out a warrant for Arias Mendoza’s arrest and were called back to the area in the early afternoon when witnesses again saw Arias Mendoza with a knife, at which point Hyattsville police arrested him. Arias Mendoza had a large serrated kitchen knife with apparent blood stains on it in his bag when he was arrested. 

What appears to have been Arias Mendoza’s own tik tok video of an unknown person’s ICE arrest a few blocks away on Sept. 6 went viral prior to Arias Mendoza’s ICE arrest last month. 

Maryland court records show that the case against Arias Mendoza was referred to the circuit court and closed on Aug. 28, 2024.

The prosecutor in the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s office assigned to Arias Mendoza’s case has not yet returned a request for comment. It is not clear when Arias Mendoza was released or why the case was closed.  

Arias Mendoza remains in ICE detention in Farmville, Virginia, according to the ICE detention locator website.

This story was updated at 10:43 Oct. 30 to add the date the case was closed in the circuit court.