A U.S. citizen arrested in an immigration raid in downtown Los Angeles This week, her family described the “kidnapping” of federal immigration agents.
When the two saw agents grab her, Andrea Velez, 32, said that the 32-year-old had just been abandoned by her mother and sister.
“My mom looked in the rearview mirror and she saw how my sister attacked from behind.” ABC7. “She’s like: ‘They kidnapped your sister.'”
Velez, a Cal Poly Pomona graduate, was detained in a Tuesday immigration raid. In the video captured on the scene, crowds around the agents can be seen gathering in the street while police are standing next to them. Meanwhile, Rosas and her mother (but not a citizen) screamed from nearby vehicles for help.
“She is an American citizen,” Rosas said in tears. “They took her. Help her, someone.”
In other videos, an agent can be seen lifting Velez off the ground and taking her away. Witnesses told media, including CBS Los Angeles, that agents never asked Wellits to identify and that she did nothing wrong.
“The only thing she is wrong is the color of her skin,” Margarita Flores, Viles’ mother, told The Mother of Viles, Margarita Flores, told The Mother of Viles CBS Los Angeles.
This incident is because many American citizens have been swept in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. People report that they are targeting skin color and are trying to help immigrants be detained by immigrants.
While it is not clear how many citizens have been affected by the government’s attacks on immigrant communities, Government Report It was found that between 2015 and 2020, ICE mistakenly deported at least 70 U.S. citizens, arrested 674 people and detained 121.
Velez’s family didn’t know their whereabouts for more than a day until she was tracking her down for a family lawyer. “It took us four hours to find her and we were lawyers.
“Just being in the wrong position at the wrong time and you can’t find the full weight of the federal government for you and your family – it’s very scary.”
Authorities have not told lawyers what the costs are facing Welles, but a DHS official told the media that she was arrested for beating an ice officer. U.S. immigration and customs enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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