Masked federal immigration agents arrested six people during a raid on Tuesday, November 4, the day of the special election in California, at a Home Depot store in the Cypress Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, including a US citizen who was demonstrating against the operation as well as his baby.
The officers had the luxury of taking his car with his one-year-old daughter in her child seat in the back seat.
A video recorded with a cell phone showed the operation in the parking lot of the Home Depot, located north of the intersection of the 5 and 110 freeways.
In the images you can see the American citizen, wearing a gray shirt and being handcuffed next to his dark-colored Chevy vehicle.
Another video shows what appears to be a struggle between the man and three officers surrounding him.
He Immigrant Defenders Law Center was contacted by community members who witnessed the incident to help reunify the minor with her family.
“It was a dangerous act for armed men to get into a car with that girl. Her family members picked her up later that day at the federal offices in Los Angeles,” said attorney Lindsey Toczylowski, co-founder of the organization. Immigrant Defenders Law Center.
“They (the agents) should have followed the protocols that ensured the well-being of the girl,” he said.
The identity of the detained citizen was not revealed, but it is known that he was born in Los Angeles and works in the restaurant industry. His little daughter was also born in the United States, and for protection her name was not revealed either.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said that the American citizen was arrested for investigation for assault, since they said, while he had his daughter in the seat of his car, he was detected carrying a hammer and throwing rocks at Border Patrol agents during the raid at the Home Depot.
24 hours after his arrest, his family did not know where the detained citizen was.
Her mother, María, told reporters that after the incident, they received a phone call from an unknown number that turned out to be from the Border Patrol asking them to pick up the minor at their offices in Los Angeles, which they proceeded to do immediately.
Maria retrieved her granddaughter at the federal building in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon.
“The girl is fine but she is asking about her father,” María said in a press conference via Zoom; and added that the experience was terrifying because one does not know who these people are.
It is known that her son asked the agents to wait for a relative to pick up his daughter before taking her away.
However, his pleas were not echoed as the video shows the officers arresting him, and driving his car with the girl still in the back seat.
Maria, also a U.S. citizen who preferred not to give her full name, said she was dismayed because her family is one more victim in a long list of people who are targeted by federal agents because of their skin color.
“My son is a kind and calm person. He works in a restaurant and just got a new job. His family is his world. He is the best father. And his daughter follows him everywhere. Although she is safe now, she needs her father and I need my son back. Please release my son now.”
It turned out that on Wednesday, November 5, in the afternoon, his son was released.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), during the raid at the Home Depot in Cypress Park, five undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala were arrested with, they said, a criminal history, which includes driving while intoxicated, driving without a driver’s license and previous deportations.
Lawyers for the arrested citizen are analyzing the possibility of taking action against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for violating his rights and those of his daughter.