Breaking: Immigration law enforcement spotted in the city of Pico Rivera

On Friday, June 20, there were several reports of a heavy presence of immigration officials in the city of Pico Rivera. 

According to the San Gabriel Unidos organization, which informs residents about raid activity, there have been reports of immigration sightings at Walmart, Target, Starbucks, Pico Towne Center and along Rosemead Street.

A video uploaded this morning to a Facebook neighborhood community group shows an immigration officer exiting a black unmarked vehicle in front of a Food 4 Less and pointing a gun at the passenger in the car behind him, who is filming the encounter. The passenger can be heard shouting, “I can beep. I can beep, right? This guy just pulled a gun on me.”

Others have reported immigration officials in front of Lowe’s, where a photo shows they deployed smoke bombs near a woman carrying a baby. The incident occurred after local residents blocked a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) vehicle from exiting the Starbucks parking lot following the detention of an individual.

Christine, a Pico Rivera resident, also told CALÓ News that immigration officials were seen at Lowe’s and as people started yelling at them, the agents deployed smoke bombs at the locals for protesting.

This is not the first time that immigration enforcement has been spotted in the city. On Tuesday, a social media video went viral when federal agents tackled and forcibly detained 20-year-old U.S. citizen Adrian Andrew Martinez in a Walmart parking lot near the 8600 block of Washington Boulevard. After more than 24 hours, the mother of Martinez was able to locate her son, who is currently being held at the federal building in Downtown Los Angeles.

In a recent exclusive interview with Fox11, Mayor Karen Bass stated that there is “an invasion of the federal government” underway and described Los Angeles as part of an “experiment” to test the limits of federal authority.