Adrian Martinez, a 20-year-old Walmart employee, was on his way back from break on Tuesday when he noticed Border Patrol officers escorting a worker who was cleaning the Pico Rivera shopping complex parking lot. As more onlookers gathered around the truck, shouting and honking their horns, he leaped out of the automobile and wheeled the man’s trash can in front of the vehicle.
An agent is seen hurrying him and pushing him to the ground in surveillance and bystander footage that was taken at the moment and posted on social media. After getting back up and exchanging heated words with a masked officer brandishing a rifle, he is pushed down again by additional agents and dragged to their truck.
What is he doing? Martinez is heard shouting, “He’s a f***king hard worker,” as additional agents—some of whom are dressed in plain clothes—arrive, push him, and take him into custody.
Bill Essayli, the top prosecutor in Los Angeles, wrote on X that Martinez was taken into custody on suspicion of hitting a border patrol agent in the face after he tried to distract them from their immigration enforcement mission.
The camera footage did not clearly show the purported punch. However, as the agents shoo Martinez into the car, someone can be heard yelling, “He’s a U.S. citizen bro.” While others struggle with Martinez, an agent can be heard and seen cocking a revolver in the footage of the altercation.
Martinez is one of a few Americans whose detention or arrest by immigration officials throughout the last week has drawn a lot of attention.
Following an altercation during a raid in downtown Los Angeles earlier this month, Essayli accused union head David Huerta of conspiring to obstruct an officer. After standing between agents and the vehicle transporting her spouse, a pregnant woman in Torrance was detained. Additionally, last week, Border Patrol officers in Montebello, less than three miles from Tuesday’s event, detained U.S. citizen Javier Ramirez, who was employed at a tow yard. Another American, Brian Gavidia, was also arrested and interrogated. He was pressed against a fence and asked whose hospital he was born in.
The clashes have heightened tensions in Los Angeles’ predominantly Latino neighborhoods, where the majority of the raids are being carried out by federal officials. According to the Department of Homeland Security, which is in charge of Immigration and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, personnel are facing more and more threats as they attempt to enforce the law.
Many people in the community believe that pushing back is morally required.
Myra Villareal, Martinez’s mother, stated that she wasn’t entirely shocked that her son attempted to assist. He frequently brings stray animals that are in need of a home home.
According to his sister Samantha Villareal, he wants to be the first one there if someone is harmed.
His mother also said, “I want justice for him.” It’s wrong what happened to him. He did nothing improper. I thought he was raising his voice. Everyone is entitled to talk. Freedom of expression, you know.
She claimed that for hours following Martinez’s arrest, she was unable to find him. She was unable to contact him, but at midnight she finally verified that he was being held downtown.
In a statement given to the Times, CBP said the recordings are lacking important details and don’t provide the complete picture.
As Border Patrol agents apprehended an undocumented immigrant at the Lowe’s shop in the same plaza while on roving patrol, they were approached by a hostile mob that tried to obstruct their work, the statement claimed.
California
A U.S. citizen is arrested on assault charges by Border Patrol personnel on roaming patrol. As Home Depots and car washes are searched, there is growing concern about rampant racial profiling.
One of the group members allegedly assaulted another agent in the arm and punched another agent in the face. According to the statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has been tasked with prosecuting Martinez for obstructing or assaulting a federal official. As of Wednesday evening, there was no complaint available.
According to the statement, hostile organizations continue to confront DHS agents and officers as well as partner agents, making it difficult for them to carry out their jobs. The community, the agents, and the people being detained are all put in danger by this interference. Whether a citizen or not, interfering with federal law enforcement is illegal.
Greg Bovino, the Sector Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, has doubled down on the searches in Southern California, with hundreds of his agents conducting them.
Once more, a fabricated story about the arrest of a U.S. citizen in Pico Rivera, California, is being spread via X. He linked to Essayli’s piece and remarked, “Don’t take our word for it.” A federal case for assault on a federal agent was recently brought against this individual. DO NOT ASSAULT.
“They’re trying to spin this and make it seem like [Martinez] was the aggressor when they were the aggressors the entire time,” said Oscar Preciado, who was watching the action and took video.
Ramirez was accused of assaulting, resisting, or obstructing a federal officer during the Montebello raid in a federal criminal complaint. According to authorities, he fled toward the tow yard’s exit while attempting to hide and refused to answer inquiries about his citizenship and identification. They also claim that he bit and shoved an agent.
Tomas De Jesus, his lawyer, has refuted the accusations, claiming that Ramirez is the victim and not the attacker.
Concerns regarding agent techniques are being voiced by local politicians in the targeted cities.
Salvador Melendez, the mayor of Montebello, described the situation as “extremely frustrating” after watching the video of another American being questioned.
“It appears that due process is not being followed,” he remarked. The design they are aiming for is a representation of our immigrant and Latino communities. After that, they’re asking questions. This is not the nation that we all know it to be, where people are protected and have their own rights.
In a letter to Attorney General Pat Bondi, DHS Secretary Krisiti Noem, and acting ICE director Todd Lyons on Wednesday, U.S. Representative Linda Sanchez (D-Whittier), who represents the region, expressed her serious concerns about Martinez’s arrest and incarceration. According to her, it seems like civil rights laws were broken in the occurrence.
The fact that a U.S. citizen who works at Walmart to support his family and is, by all accounts, a respectable member of his community is still being held by the federal government really disturbs me, she said.
She insisted that they evaluate the agencies and individuals involved in Mr. Martinez’s violent arrest and unjust detention, as well as release any planning documents and warrants.
We are growing more and more alarmed by the character and tone of these recent activities, said Steve Carmona, the city manager of Pico Rivera, in a statement on Tuesday. Serious questions of proportionality, justice, and due process are raised by reports of increased enforcement techniques, unwarranted stops, and operations that seem to target particular neighborhoods.
Outrage and growing agitation on both sides have been highlighted by the videos. Agents are being pursued by immigrant advocates from one community to another. There are now apps. Ringblare and Nextdoor neighbors have warned of raids. Additionally, when people notice an unexpected immigration operation on the streets, crowds and live broadcasters congregate.
Martinez’s friends were among the hundreds that gathered in Pico Rivera on Tuesday night to protest the immigration actions. They hoisted the American and Mexican flags and screamed “ICE out of Pico.”
A 33-year-old Instacart employee named Preciado took video on Tuesday morning as she was in the parking lot. He ran toward the scene after seeing a commotion with three border patrol trucks and three unmarked vehicles.
In his video, Preciado interrogates and swears at the agents while others show up and leap off unmarked vans brandishing firearms.
According to Preciado, you can hear one of the guys cock the gun while pointing it at us and yelling for us to go.
By then, several masked agents with guns and some with full camouflage, along with several in plain clothes had already taken custody of Vivaldo Montes Herrera, the man Martinez had tried to defend. According to his wife, Montes Herrera has been in the United States for 27 years.
According to Preciado, he was also grabbed by agents, one of whom placed a hand over his neck.
Politics
Men wearing vests that read “Border Patrol Federal Agent” interrogated Brian Gavidia, who was born and reared in East Los Angeles.
“I am a citizen of the United States and I am exercising my right to record,” Preciado stated. The man swatted the phone out of my hand at that point.
His phone is shown being knocked to the ground in a video. Preciado claimed that the impact broke his screen protector.
Soon after, he claimed, Martinez was tackled to the ground by four or five individuals.
The guy weighs like 100 pounds maybe, he doesn t need five people trying to tackle him and doing all this stuff to him. They can be seen getting on top of him, grabbing him by the neck, and twisting his arm.
This isn’t typical. He stated that this should never be considered normal. These individuals, who are armed and dressed as though they are going to war, target American citizens and others who are merely attempting to work and make ends meet.
Claudia Mejia, the wife of Montes Herrera, stated on Wednesday that she was still unaware of her husband’s whereabouts. Shortly after his arrest, he had been able to call her.
He asked her to look after their daughter, who was about two years old, saying, “Me agarro migracion.”
Typically, his daughter would eagerly await dad at the door when he got home from his work in South L.A. at around 3 p.m. He never showed up.
Mejia characterized her husband as a hard worker who was committed to his job and our home on Wednesday, while the girl screamed in the background.
Her spouse was a kind father who frequently placed the infant to sleep. His wife claimed that after he left, she put one of his shirts on the infant’s pillow so the young girl could sleep knowing that she had a bit of him.
Mejia stated that she is aware of her father’s presence. Tell me, what did he do that was so harmful or terrible that they took him the way they did?
