Federal Agents Deploy Brutal Tactics in LA Immigration Raids

This article includes images of law enforcement violence and healthcare emergencies SInce June federal agents have embarked on a militarized rampage and terror campaign across the greater Los Angeles area Pursuing the Trump administration s daily quota of arrests federal agents have ripped through predominantly Latino cities and neighborhoods In roving patrols as the administration has described them in court filings agents without warrants have abducted day laborers street vendors car wash workers and others swept up in the governing body s dragnet Despite the Trump administration s pledge to target violent criminals the vast majority of those detained do not have criminal records That has not stopped the cabinet from deploying violence against those in its path Throughout the first month of its focused operation in and around Los Angeles federal agents regularly used force against unarmed individuals a great number of of them U S citizens The Intercept analyzed more than a dozen immigration operations since June involving federal agents from a hodgepodge of agencies Immigration and Customs Enforcement Customs and Boundary Protection Homeland Prevention Investigations U S Marshals System and the Federal Bureau of Study By reviewing footage and interviewing people who the government detained and those who witnessed raids The Intercept identified several violent patterns Agents have aimed firearms and sprayed chemical irritants at onlookers and protesters They have launched tear gas and flash bang grenades into crowds They have beaten the people they detain struck them with batons and restrained them face down in a prone position pressing them into the pavement and restricting their abilities to breathe Agents often deployed these violent tactics against the targets of immigration raids people they presumed to be undocumented immigrants In the majority of cases reviewed for this story federal agents used force against U S citizens who were attempting to document raids or intervene by putting their bodies between the agents and their neighbors Legal experts revealed video evidence shows the authorities response is disproportionate and a violation of constitutional rights particularly in cases where bystanders were filming or yelling at agents without intervening There s a pattern of reacting violently and excessively against people that aren t interfering or otherwise causing harm to law enforcement stated attorney Matthew Borden If I say I don t like the fact that you re in my region and you re kidnapping people or latest apart families I got a right to say that and the cabinet can t suppress that right declared Borden who is representing journalists legal observers and protesters injured by federal agents in Paramount and across Southern California in a lawsuit Once you do it s like Tiananmen Square The Trump administration defends its practices in the Los Angeles area claiming that federal agents are under attack and that videos analyzed by The Intercept fail to capture key moments Federal prosecutors are also filing criminal charges against a growing number of protesters who have confronted agents Homeland Safeguard Secretary Kristi Noem explained those who attempt to slow ICE operations would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law Violent Arrests Adrian Martinez sat in his car during his lunch break at Walmart It was June and videos of ICE raids snatching immigrants off the street flooded his social media feeds On his way to the bank to get certain cash for lunch Martinez saw a janitor from his work sprinting across the parking lot The janitor looked terrified Behind him was a masked man carrying an AR- -style assault rifle The armed man caught up to the janitor grabbed him and started manhandling him like very aggressively for no reason Martinez described The Intercept Martinez drove up to the altercation By the time he hopped out of the car more armed agents had emerged from trucks including several wearing CBP uniforms He remembered agents cocking their rifles which Martinez interpreted as an attempt to intimidate him and the growing group of bystanders who had gathered in the parking lot filming yelling and honking their horns They don t give me no explanation they just started attacking me for sticking up for a poor man just using my words What is he doing He s a fucking hard worker Martinez yelled at agents according to video recorded by a bystander Protection footage from a nearby business shows Martinez slowly pulling a cart containing a trash can and cleaning supplies which the janitor had abandoned in front of a regime automobile Moments later an agent approached Martinez knocked down the trash can and pushed him to the asphalt The bystander video captures a second moment when three armed agents slammed Martinez to the ground During that scuffle another agent knocked the bystander s phone out of his hands The bystander Oscar Preciado declared the agent also tried to detain him but he was able to escape According to Preciado as well as shield and bystander video federal agents initiated physical contact with Martinez Video Oscar Preciado PICO RIVERA June LA County Walmart employee Adrian Martinez was taken into custody by federal agents after standing up for a janitorial worker targeted in an immigration raid Martinez suffered a knee contusion bruises and scrapes Outcome of raid Two people detained including Martinez a U S citizen During the arrest the group of agents wrestled Martinez to the ground twisting his arm and grabbing him by the neck At one point an agent drove his hand into Martinez s neck to force him into a CBP truck I was just confused Martinez announced They don t give me no explanation they just started attacking me for sticking up for a poor man just using my words He was dragged into custody at around a m with his car still running in the parking lot Martinez who was born in Huntington Park insisted to agents that he was a U S citizen as they brought him to the basement of a federal building in downtown LA along with detained immigrants Martinez s attorneys and relatives didn t know where he was for more than hours His mother revealed agents at a federal detention facility initially turned her away saying her son wasn t there If they re doing that to him in broad daylight what are they going to do behind closed doors So multiple things were going through my head like is he OK What did they do to him Martinez s mother Myra Martinez advised The Intercept Like if they re doing that to him in broad daylight what are they going to do behind closed doors Martinez was published after four days in detention on bond While detained he did not receive medicinal care for his injuries He was later diagnosed with a knee contusion and placed in a leg brace He had bruises and scrapes across his body Related Trump Appointee Prosecuting LA Protesters Defended Jan Individuals Newly appointed U S Attorney in the Central District of California Bill Essayli initially accused Martinez in a announcement of punching a Edge Patrol agent in the face In a report to The Intercept a DHS spokesperson revealed one agent was also punched in the arm But in court filings prosecutors seemed to walk back those statements Martinez was charged with the lesser felony of conspiracy to impede a federal officer but not of assault Attorneys for Martinez with the Miller Law Group called the charge trumped up and explained it was used to justify the federal agents violent healing of Adrian He did nothing to justify being grabbed by the throat by heavily-armed and masked agents and thrown into a Boundary Patrol wagon the attorneys noted Angelica Salas executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights or CHIRLA helped Martinez s attorneys and relatives locate him Salas acknowledged that population members have responded to the raids with impassioned resistance but she noted their pushback has been justified It has often been federal agents who initiate violence she pointed out roughing up their targets at times tackling people to the ground or shattering car windows to yank them out CHIRLA helped file a July class-action lawsuit against DHS on behalf of individuals detained by immigration personnel The lawsuit challenges the legality of southern California s fresh immigration sweeps which according to the complaint look less like lawful arrests and more like brazen midday kidnappings The complaint lists numerous examples of people being chased and pushed to the ground sometimes even beaten and then taken away after they try to avoid agents Such violence Salas declared is what neighborhood members are fighting They re using their bodies their words to try to stop something and that s what they have Salas revealed of protesters objecting to the raids They don t have the guns let s keep in mind who truly has the ability to deny a person their liberty or their life On Juneteenth two days after Martinez s arrest federal agents fanned out across LA for an especially aggressive day of raids targeting department store parking lots Nearly people were detained Among them was electrician Arturo Hermosillo who is a U S citizen He was driving his company van that morning in the Pacoima neighborhood when he saw masked federal agents surrounding a woman lying on the ground near a Lowe s and Costco he advised The Intercept Agents were attempting to detain the woman a -year-old street vendor when she suffered a heart attack She was later hospitalized Hermosillo recognized her as a fixture in the neighborhood who sells tamales in the same spot every day He parked his van and began recording I yearned to have video of what was happening to this older lady Hermosillo revealed She s a member of the public Within seconds two agents tapped on his window ordering him to move his van and leave Hermosillo disclosed he was trying to comply with the order but accidentally backed into a white unmarked car behind him Agents in tactical gear suddenly swarmed his van Hermosillo opened his door trying to explain that he wasn t able to leave and was blocked in He insisted he wasn t doing anything illegal That s when three agents tried to rip Hermosillo out of his van By this point bystanders began to record the altercation One woman streamed it live on TikTok Let him go he s not doing nothing wrong she shouted at the agents Why do you guys act like animals As Hermosillo clung to his steering wheel agents pulled on his hair forcefully yanked his arm grabbed him by the neck and punched his arms the livestream footage shows He recalled one of the agents pulling him by the necklace and shared photos with The Intercept of a red wound encircling his neck I was holding on because I was scared and they were going to pull me out and just throw me straight on the ground Hermosillo reported Eventually overpowering him the agents slammed Hermosillo onto the pavement the video shows As they placed him in handcuffs one agent knelt on his back Video Handout PACOIMA June Neighborhood in LA Federal agents detained Arturo Hermosillo a U S citizen who was recording a raid Agents pulled him from his car as one agent beat him Outcome of raid Nine people detained in Pacoima and nearby San Fernando including Hermosillo He was detained for hours before being issued without charges The squabble left him with bruises along his arms and neck That same day Job Garcia a -year-old graduate apprentice and part-time delivery worker was picking up an item at a Home Depot in Hollywood when he spotted immigration agents and started filming He followed them as they chased workers around the store s parking lot According to a video Garcia posted on his Instagram he called out Don t tell them anything in Spanish to two workers being detained He filmed five agents surrounding a day laborer sitting inside his van and caught one of the agents shattering the van s window on video Are you fucking serious Garcia yelled Seconds later several agents wrestled him to the ground and placed him in cuffs You want it you got it sir you fucking got it one agent yelled as Garcia lay face down on the floor according to his own recording obtained and reviewed by The Intercept You want to go to jail fine you got it Acknowledging that its agents went after Garcia in part for his speech DHS explained The Intercept he was arrested after he verbally harassed and assaulted a Boundary Patrol agent He was disclosed the following day without charges On July he filed a claim against DHS seeking million in damages alleging he was unlawfully arrested and assaulted Garcia declared agents had pressed their hands against his neck and their knees against his back while lying on the floor I thought This is apparently what George Floyd felt he wrote in a post on Instagram following his release and I wondered if this was the end for me because I started to notice a disruption in my breathing Video Job Garcia HOLLYWOOD June Neighborhood in LA After bystander Job Garcia a U S citizen recorded federal agents smashing a car window to detain a worker outside a Home Depot agents tackled him and took him into custody Outcome of raid At least people detained including Garcia Attorney Andrew G Celli Jr who reviewed the footage for The Intercept expressed concern about the violent tactics shown in the videos including the use of the prone position Celli mentioned the technique killed one of his clients in an earlier scenario It can be deadly announced Celli a founding partner at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward Maazel who has represented casualties in law enforcement brutality cases in New York Ordinary police are trained that it s an extremely dangerous thing to do it does happen in several circumstances but it s a massive red flag Even so federal agents have commonly used the technique when detaining individuals during immigration operations throughout the Los Angeles area They used the arrest tactic on June when four federal agents piled on top of another U S citizen Luis Hipolito after he confronted them while they apprehended a street vendor in downtown L A One bystander video shows Hipolito yelling at an agent then suddenly turning his head away and swinging his arm His family communicated the Los Angeles Times that he had been sprayed by a chemical agent and raised his arm in reaction Other bystander videos capture subsequent moments One shows an agent kneeling on Hipolito s back while another grabbed his neck and a third agent restrained his arms A fourth agent pinned his lower body later punching one of Hipolito s legs Agents forced Hipolito into a prone position for more than two and a half minutes After they cuffed him and sat him upright one agent could be seen wiping the sweat from his eyes when Hipolito appeared to have a seizure While he convulsed agents once again placed him face down on his stomach First aid guidance advises a seizing person should be placed on their side Video Rabbi Mordechai Teller DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES June Federal agents piled atop Luis Hipolito a U S citizen in a prone position After agents sat him up Hipolito began to convulse He had confronted agents who were attempting to detain street vendors The regime accused him of assaulting an agent Outcome of raid Two people detained both U S citizens targets of the raid escaped Hipolito was detained and disclosed on bond and was charged with assaulting a federal officer Agents arrested another U S citizen Andrea Guadalupe Velez during the matter accusing her of impeding an agent Velez her attorneys and spectators dispute the claim After her release several days later she explained she was targeted for being brown and Latina DHS commented that the happening involving Hipolito and Velez kept ICE law enforcement from arresting the target illegal alien of their operation Related ICE Agent Fled From Angry Residents Outside New York School and Got in a Car Crash Days later on June in the Orange County city of Santa Ana bystanders recorded Dividing line Patrol agents violently detaining two men A small crowd gathered at an intersection to demand healthcare healing for a detainee who was being led by agents into an unmarked sedan Why would you have to make him bleed one man petitioned them The governing body identified the target of the raid as Apoloniol Arreola-Solario who functionaries commented had run a quarter-mile before agents apprehended him DHS described The Intercept a mob had thrown rocks at agents and that one individual tried to prevent Arreola-Solario s capture and another kicked the doors of an agent s conveyance Bystander video shows a different scene in which observers can be seen objecting to the raid but not initiating contact with agents Rather several agents are shown charging toward one of the protesters grabbing him by the neck and slamming him headfirst into the pavement He s a U S citizen an onlooker disclosed Another agent struck a separate victim with a baton several times in the legs while a third agent tackled him to the ground The baton-wielding agent struck the man once more while he lay on the ground Why are you hitting him screamed a woman He s already down Brandishing Firearms Though federal agents involved in the Los Angeles campaign seldom wear uniforms or badges the greater part carry function weapons The Intercept documented four instances in a three-day span from June to June in which agents appeared to aim their firearms at unarmed civilians in various cases at point-blank range An additional episode arose the following week This tally is likely an undercount as it only includes incidents made masses in bystander recordings An earlier instance on June that was not caught on video took place at a church in Downey where a pastor published that a masked agent pointed an assault rifle at her when she approached a federal motorcycle The previous day a day laborer and green-card holder at a Home Depot in Santa Ana stated an agent had held him at gunpoint while asking for his ID Pulling a weapon on an unarmed civilian in a crowded situation is just extremely dangerous While there have been no known cases of agents firing live ammunition during the ongoing operations in Southern California legal experts and advocates for immigrants fear it s only a matter of time The use-of-force plan for immigration officers says an officer shall consistently use the minimum non-deadly force necessary to accomplish the officer s mission and should only escalate to greater uses of force if such higher level of force is warranted by the actions apparent intentions and apparent capabilities of the suspect prisoner or assailant In the videos showing federal agents pointing guns at civilians Celli and Borden stated the individuals or crowds there presented no legitimate threats to necessitate such an escalation The idea of pointing a firearm at somebody for taking down a license plate number or refusing to back up in a crowd situation that s just not appropriate Celli revealed Pulling a weapon on an unarmed civilian in a crowded situation is just extremely dangerous If you re already amped up on adrenaline Borden added it doesn t take very much to pull the trigger DHS did not comment specifically on cases in which agents brandished firearms on unarmed individuals On June hours after agents grabbed six workers who were waiting at a bus stop in front of a Winchell s donut shop in Pasadena a crowd of concerned public members gathered at the site of the abduction Video of the raid from the donut shop had been circulating online Among those who heard of the June raid was Yoselyn Chicas who was born and raised in Pasadena While out running errands she drove by the donut shop to scout whether agents were still in the area She figured her friends and family plenty of of whom are in the U S without documentation could use certain peace of mind She saw a black Dodge Challenger with tinted windows exiting a nearby parking lot pursued by a small group of people yelling You re a coward how dare you The Challenger pulled in front of Chicas s car She grabbed her phone and hit record Video Yoselyn Chicas PASADENA June LA County When neighbors arrived at the scene of an earlier immigration raid at a donut shop a federal agent aimed his firearm at an unarmed man attempting to document his license plate number Outcome of raid Six people detained At a red light a member of the crowd ran into the street to snap a photo of the Challenger s license plate number which had been obscured by a plastic covering a viable violation of California traffic law That s when the driver emerged from the Challenger dressed in a gray shirt brown pants green hat and a black tactical vest that read Police He swiftly pulled out what appeared to be a handgun and aimed it at the man who retreated toward the sidewalk a video Chicas recorded shows Unseen in the video was the crowd of protesters a group of local pastors attorneys immigrant rights advocates and concerned neighbors gathered down-range from the agent Related District Defense Groups Take the Last Stand Against ICE in LA I thought for that moment that the young man was going to get killed declared Salas who was among the crowd She and others had been there as a part of the Los Angeles Raids Rapid Response Arrangement a coalition of assistants to protect immigrants and document raids We all saw it in that instant it just felt like the time froze Chicas noted she feared for the man s life but also for her own A mother of young children she began to anticipate the worst-case scenario if she were shot Still she kept filming I was like regardless it s going to be on my phone as evidence when my husband gets my phone he ll see it they ll be able to send it out and there would be proof that there was no probable cause for him to react in such a dramatic way Chicas notified The Intercept I was scared After several seconds the agent holstered his weapon got back into his car and drove off into oncoming traffic running a red light at the busy intersection with his exigency lights on Two days later in Santa Ana a bystander driving past a realm saw four masked federal agents detaining a group of men When the onlooker rolled down their window and began to record video one of the masked agents raised a handgun and pointed it at them footage shared with The Intercept shows You better get out of here another agent yelled The bystander yelled back Why continuing to record later saying to themself Qu est n llorando What are they crying about Handout SANTA ANA June Orange County A passerby began recording when they saw agents detaining two men outside a realm One agent pointed a gun at the car Another agent warned You better get out of here Outcome of raid Two people detained Also in Santa Ana on June federal agents chased a landscaper Narciso Barranco across traffic at an intersection with guns drawn according to video of the case As the agents made chase one pointed his handgun holding it sideways at a bystander s car to halt it from turning into the intersection A separate video reviewed by The Intercept demonstrated seven agents surrounding Barranco as he lay face down in a prone position on the asphalt One agent repeatedly punched Barranco as two others held him down After they stood him up another agent pressed a baton against Barranco s throat to force him into a gray SUV The video spread widely drawing widespread condemnation after his children reportedly current and former U S Marines spoke out against their father s detention ICE authorities claimed Barranco had assaulted agents with a weed whacker which contradicts bystander video of the episode Footage shows Barranco tilting the weed whacker to shield himself from an agent spraying him with a chemical irritant Video SantaAnaProblems SANTA ANA June Orange County Federal agents beat Narciso Barranco a landscaper and father of three while pinning him down Agents also brandished firearms at bystanders and sprayed a chemical substance Outcome of raid One person detained DHS Assistant Secretary for Masses Affairs Tricia McLaughlin mentioned in a announcement that agents used the minimum amount of force necessary during this arrest That same day in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Westlake federal agents raided a Home Depot The store had been the target of the larger June raid in which federal agents abducted dozens of day laborers Since then organizers with the LA Tenants Union Koreatown worked shifts outside the shop to deter raids and spread awareness of immigrants rights When they saw federal agents return on June helpers and concerned neighbors sprung to action recording the raid getting names of two workers who were being detained and attempting to block the federal vehicles from leaving the area A federal agent wearing a tactical vest with a black neck gaiter pulled over his mouth and nose aimed his handgun at point-blank range at two teenage girls who agents were attempting to detain according to video shared with The Intercept Video Handout WESTLAKE June Neighborhood in LA While a small crowd of district members recorded and confronted an immigration raid outside a Home Depot a federal agent aimed a firearm at them Another sprayed a chemical substance Outcome of raid Two people detained The girls managed to escape when one of the agents SUVs began rolling forward according to bystanders Video from the scene suggests the driver had forgotten to place the van in park Agents continued the practice of brandishing firearms on June in nearby Historic Filipinotown where one pointed a firearm at a motorist in a red pickup truck threatening Don t fucking move I ll fucking shoot you before lowering his gun and letting the motorist drive away Gas Grenades and Explosives After society members protested a raid at a car wash in the southeast LA County cities of Bell and Maywood on June the Trump administration claimed its agents were violently targeted during lawful operations posting photos of trucks with broken windows on X Missing from the post was any acknowledgment that federal agents had deployed tear gas in Bell and flash bang grenades in Maywood on crowds that had gathered to protest or film immigration operations Over the last month such tactics have become a common method to clear the way for immigration operations Agents fired tear gas at about half a dozen people in Pico Rivera in the same shopping plaza where Martinez was detained at bystanders in Ladera Heights on June after detaining a vendor who clung to a tree to try and avoid arrest and at bystanders in downtown LA after nabbing a fruit seller on June Read Our Complete Coverage The War on Immigrants On June in perhaps the greatest show of force by federal agents in the present terror campaign federal agents used an explosive device to blow open the front door of a home in Huntington Park while a mother and her baby slept inside Ring camera footage published by NBC LA demonstrated the explosion and at least eight Limit Patrol agents in tactical gear storming the house with rifles pointed forward Agents also reportedly used a drone to clear the house They were attempting to arrest a man suspected of rear-ending a federal bicycle during an immigration operation in Bell the previous week The man wasn t home during the raid but later turned himself in He faces a charge of destroying ruling body property During a separate arrest tied to an immigration raid on June Homeland Assurance agents in unmarked trucks rammed into a white BMW at an intersection in the LA neighborhood of Boyle Heights according to safeguard camera footage from a nearby business Christian Damian Cerno-Camacho his wife and their young child were in the car Cerno-Camacho was arrested on suspicion of punching a federal agent at a June protest in Paramount against Homeland Assurance and Territory line Patrol agents who were preparing to conduct an immigration raid After the agents hit his car Cerno-Camacho surrendered as agents drew their guns on the family With guns aimed at the car they also deployed tear gas Video DHS on X BOYLE HEIGHTS June Neighborhood in LA To detain Christian Damien Cerno-Camacho agents struck his car fired tear gas at it and drew their guns Inside the wagon were his wife and young child Prosecutors accused Cerno-Camacho of punching an agent days earlier while protesting an immigration operation Outcome of raid One person detained Hunting Us Like Animals These militarized attacks have left residents of predominantly Latino cities and county areas in south and southeast LA County such as Huntington Park Pico Rivera Bellflower or Pico Union feeling like their communities are being invaded by an occupying force revealed Salas the head of CHIRLA She described the raids as adrenaline-filled and war-like operations Salas commented the agents have a mindset a kind of war mentality where we re the enemy and they re bringing this on at all costs A great number of Latino immigrants in Los Angeles fled armed conflict whether the Guatemalan regime s U S -backed genocide of its Indigenous population the civil war in El Salvador of the s and s or cartel and state violence in Mexico The latest military-style raids Salas noted have proved re-traumatizing for several She often hears the phrase Nos est n cazando como animales or They are hunting us like animals Related Trump Deploys Marines to a Manufactured Dilemma Defense Official Says Trump has described anti-ICE protesters in LA who wave flags of other countries at protests as animals and has also referred to them as a foreign enemy vowing a crackdown against dissent Borden explained such rhetoric from Trump along with his regime s deportation quotas are emboldening agents to act with less regard for the safety of those who object to their operations Both Borden and Celli explained the violence deployed by federal agents against those who oppose the immigration raids are signs of agents lack of training and experience Former Commissioner of U S Customs and Frontier Protection Gil Kerlikowske who served in the Obama administration came to similar conclusions in a current court filing He revealed that Department of Homeland Shield agents should be able to protect the citizens without violating the rights of those recording or observing an affair even in the heat of a volatile protest Any difficulties to federal executives arise from lack of training and experience working in dense urban environments Kerlikowske wrote in a declaration to aid the journalists and protesters lawsuit against DHS and lack of leadership that is experienced in urban civil disturbances unrest The consequences could prove deadly Even as the mainstream news cycle has moved on from daily coverage of LA s immigration raids the executive s tactics of warrantless arrests racial profiling and violence remain a daily occurrence throughout the region Still sustained resistance from a coalition of groups and grassroots activists continues They keep responding to raids documenting what they see and protesting the deportation operations Legal advocates are also continuing to defend immigrants in the July class-action lawsuit against DHS The lawsuit requests an injunction that would halt warrantless arrests throughout much of Southern California require agents to identify themselves while making arrests ensure due process rights and guarantee those detained have access to attorneys A federal judge in California s Central Valley granted a similar injunction in April after farmworkers sued the leadership Legal advocates in Southern California hope for a similar remedy Mentioned within the complaint was the raid at the Pico Rivera Walmart during which agents detained Martinez Several of the conditions alleged by plaintiffs including Jason Brian Gavidia a U S citizen forcefully detained in Montebello by Limit Patrol agents during an immigration sweep closely mirror Martinez s scenario In the days since his release Martinez has been waking up in the middle of the night he reported The Intercept He explained he is still struggling to process the arrest and the conditions he faced afterward On their drive downtown inside a Edge Patrol van Martinez heard agents taunting the janitor they targeted We wouldn t have got this man if he wouldn t have ran it was his dumb-ass fault the agents mentioned as Martinez recalled The janitor felt guilty that Martinez was also detained Martinez disclosed he tried to reassure the man in broken Spanish The janitor started to cry sharing that he has an -month-old daughter and that he is her main source of financial encouragement Related Trump Is Building a Global Gulag for Immigrants Captured by ICE While inside the federal holding facility downtown Martinez revealed he and others stood in line for hours waiting to be processed Martinez was barefoot having lost his shoes while detained He struggled to walk with his bloodied and injured knee A pile of detainees personal belongings sat out of reach of the shackled men cellphones rang nonstop Martinez assumed it was likely their families trying in vain to reach them Martinez a U S citizen commented he was placed in a cell by himself The other men were crammed into what he described as a cage with two skinny benches a single bathroom and wet floors As agents continued to fill the cell it became cramped to the point where particular were forced to stand he revealed Plenty of still wore their work clothes Specific wore Crocs or sandals and seemed like they had been taken from their homes Everyone s hands and ankles were shackled several individuals were held in upper-body restraints with their arms crossed over their chests They had these people in conditions that was worse than animals Martinez explained At the June hearing for Martinez s release his mother other family members friends and his girlfriend packed the downtown LA federal courtroom U S Marshals led nine people shackled at the hands and feet into the courtroom With his head held high but his face sullen Martinez entered last He appeared to wear the same black T-shirt and dark jeans he had on when he was detained His face lit up when he noticed his family and he gave a smile and slight wave from the defendant s table After the judge ordered his release his relative commented on how it was hard to see him shackled While Martinez is confident his physical injuries will heal and that he will receive the advocacy he ll need to process the trauma he worries about how his matter is hurting his family Martinez lives with his mother father aunt and four sisters in Huntington Park He announced the occurrence has been causing a lot of stress at home After he got out Walmart sent him a letter announcing his termination for apparent workplace violence Martinez had hoped the job would help advocacy his family as they saved to buy a home Keeping a job is also among the terms of his release I just want everything to go back to normal Martinez stated The post Federal Agents Deploy Brutal Tactics in LA Immigration Raids appeared first on The Intercept