LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A 32-year-old U.S. citizen was arrested Tuesday by masked, armed federal immigration agents in the parking lot of a Home Depot in the city’s Cypress Park neighborhood. The man’s one-year-old daughter, also a U.S. citizen, was in the backseat when agents entered his car and drove away, according to his mother, Maria Avalos.
The Department of Homeland Security said the man was taken into custody for assault and that a stolen pistol from New York was found in his vehicle. DHS also claimed he exited his car “wielding a hammer and throwing rocks” at agents. The family disputes that account and says they have not been told where he is being held.
Avalos said she waited hours at an immigration office in downtown Los Angeles before being reunited with her granddaughter. Immigrant rights groups, including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles and ImmDef, called the incident “traumatizing” and demanded accountability.
Video footage reviewed by The Guardian shows heavily armed agents detaining the man as bystanders express alarm. Advocates warn that similar arrests have separated other families nationwide.
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