Community Action
I.C.E. has been terrorizing and detaining U.S. Citizens. People in our community are having their civil rights violated with no explanation or accountability. These are their stories.
Job Garcia (US Citizen)
“...Garcia's arrest and detention were racially motivated and that the government agents may have violated his constitutional protections for free speech, his right to remain silent, his freedom from unreasonable search and seizure and his right to due process.
Garcia regularly traveled to Los Angeles-area Home Depots for his job as a delivery driver for an online business. He and others saw agents making the arrests and started recording them on his smartphone …”
Kenny Laynez-Ambrosio (US Citizen & FL High School Senior)
Laynez-Ambrosio can also be heard telling officers: “I was born and raised right here.” Still, he was pushed to the ground and says that an officer aimed a stun gun at him. He was subsequently arrested and held in a cell at a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) station for six hours.
​
They appear to use a stun gun on one man, put another in a chokehold and can be heard telling Laynez-Ambrosio: “You’ve got no rights here. You’re a migo, brother.” Afterward, agents can be heard bragging and making light of the arrests, calling the stun gun use “funny” and quipping: “You can smell that … $30,000 bonus.”
Domingo Rey Valentine (US Citizen)
Domingo Rey Valentine is a U.S. citizen who has lived nearly all his 50 years in this country since his adoption as a baby by Nebraska parents who had served in the Peace Corps in Honduras.
​
This week, however, the Omahan was picked up at his job of more than 20 years by Douglas County officials who told him he was wanted on a “hold” by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
​
Valentine spent the next two nights
in the county jail.
Elzon Lemus (US Citizen)
On June 3, Elzon Lemus—a U.S. citizen—was illegally stopped, detained, and handcuffed by ICE agents on his way to work. No warrant. No cause. Just blatant racial profiling.
​
Without a warrant, the ICE agent is then seen reaching inside the vehicle and opening the passenger door of the car.
​
"As a former police officer and detective with over 20 years, I know exactly what lawful policing looks like and what it does not look like, and this was not it," said Phil Ramos, Deputy Speaker of the New York State Assembly.
.png)
Cary Lopez Alvarado (US Citizen)
“[They said] ‘But you’re from Mexico, right?’ And I’m like ‘No, I’m from here,’” López said. “[They asked] ... ‘Where’s here?’ and I’m like, ‘Here, the U.S., Los Angeles.”
López was released after complaining of stomach pain and went straight to a hospital where she started having contractions, which she believes were caused by the stress of what she had gone through.
Andrea Velez (US Citizen)
Velez, a production coordinator for a shoe company, recalled seeing federal agents when her mother and sister dropped her off at work. “It was like a scene,” she told NBC Los Angeles. “They were just ready to attack
and chase.”
Velez said someone grabbed her and slammed her to the ground. She said that she tried to tell the agent, who was in plainclothes, that she was a citizen but that
he told her she “was interfering with what he was doing, so he was going to arrest me.”
“That’s when I asked him to show me his ID, his badge number,” she said. “I asked him if he had a warrant, and he said I didn’t need to know any of that.”
%20(4).png)
.png)
Javier Ramirez (US Citizen)
Agents came, clearly without a warrant, trespassing,” he said.
“It was kind of scary seeing people with masks and vests.”
Ramirez, who’s diabetic, said he tried to stay away but instead was detained and thrown to the floor. He kept telling them he was a U.S. citizen, but agents didn’t pay attention to him. He was in federal prison for five days. Ramirez said he kept telling the officers he needed his insulin but was ignored. He also saw how immigration officers often made people sign papers for voluntary deportation. Attorney Michael Carrillo said in the case of Ramirez, the ICE agents entered into a private property without a search warrant and claimed in their sworn
declarations that Javier was trying to hide between the cars
and looked suspicious.
George Retes (US Citizen)
George Retes, a U.S. citizen and Iraq War veteran, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) and other federal agencies for three days and three nights. During that time, he was denied access to an attorney, was not allowed to make a phone call, was not presented to a judge, and was put in an isolation cell.
He missed his daughter’s third birthday.
He was never charged with a crime.
.png)
Juan Carlos Ramirez (US Citizen)
“My husband is a U.S. citizen, he never should have been taken,” said Monique Ramirez. The family's attorney said
Diaz was “attacked by these ICE agents, maced, punched, beaten,” and then transported to a local hospital before being moved to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. Witnesses described the arrest scene as chaotic and intimidating. “It was really sad,” said one worker in the area. “When they came, people looked really scared, like we were criminals.” Another nearby worker, Victor Garcia, added, “In my opinion it is just like racial profiling—they just pull Latino Americans, Hispanics—it is not right.”
(Warning: Graphic Content)
%20(5).png)
Hillary Hogue (US Citizen)
She identified herself as a volunteer advocate for members of the immigrant community, and she asked for his badge number. He replied, “I don’t have a badge number.” A Florida Highway Patrol officer then approached her car, informed her she was going to be detained, and ordered her out of her vehicle. Before she had the opportunity to comply, the officer grabbed her by the arm and yanked her out of her vehicle. He kept telling her to "Stop resisting," though the video shows no evidence of resistance.