US citizens and a legal permanent resident unlawfully detained by immigration agents sue the federal government

Five U.S. citizens and one U.S. legal permanent resident who were recently detained and arrested by immigration agents in Los Angeles sued the U.S. Government for violations of their civil rights.

The claims, filed Wednesday by the Carrillo Law Firm, are sending a message to the U.S. Department of Justice that they will hold accountable any of the federal agents who unlawfully detained people or used their power against U.S. citizens and others. 

One of the plaintiffs is U.S. citizen Cary Lopez, who spoke with a broken voice during the press conference on Wednesday morning as she recalled that on June 8, she was detained, shackled and shoved around by ICE officers.

Lopez was nine months pregnant and trying to document the detention of her husband and another person, both undocumented. Officers tried to stop her and she became extremely worried they would hurt her belly. Despite being pregnant, she was arrested and later hospitalized due to sharp pain in her stomach. 

The baby is now two months old. 

“She was doing nothing wrong, nothing illegal,” said Michael Carrillo, one of the legal representatives. “At the time they claimed she was interfering with law enforcement. Later those charges were dismissed and she was never charged.”

Another plaintiff is Javier Ramirez, who was detained and arrested by immigration officers on June 12 while at L.A. City Junk Cars in Montebello “conducting his business and the purchasing or selling of vehicles.”

“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.

“All false, totally bogus and in my opinion, they arrested him, they charged him, they put these bogus declarations together and then, once the video came out, they had to drop the charges,” said Michael.  

That same day Juan Carlos Ramirez, another U.S. citizen–not related to Javier–was detained and arrested at his business in the city of Oxnard. Juan Carlos said ICE agents arrived with shields and rifles, breaking the locks to the business with an axe. Apparently ICE was looking for Juan Carlos’ father but couldn’t provide a warrant. 

When Juan Carlos tried to record the interaction, the agents pulled a gun on and pepper-sprayed, and  was taken into custody. 

On July 4, Juan Rivas, a U.S. legal permanent resident, said he was looking for a job at a Home Depot in Inglewood. 

He said he was asked if he had papers, to which he explained that his resident card had expired in June but was waiting for the new one to arrive. 

He was then thrown to the floor, beaten, and arrested. When he asked why they were doing that, they said that they feared for their safety, despite the fact that they were “like 20” against him. 

Attorney Luis Carrillo said they want to prove that while the government is saying they are looking for criminals, their actions show otherwise, as they keep focusing on brown-skinned people.

Consideration to sue local police

In two of these cases, local police were present–LAPD and Ontario PD–and were allegedly aiding in the operations.

One of them happened on June 24, when U.S. citizen Andrea Velez was detained and arrested by federal agents when she was walking to her work in downtown L.A.

“The agents were wearing masks and never identified. They didn’t have an operation; they were just grabbing people,” said Velez. “While all that was happening, one of them came to me. I used my bag to defend myself and I fell down. When I tried to get up, he said he was arresting me for interfering.”

Her mother called 911, saying her daughter was being kidnapped, and when the LAPD arrived at the scene,  Velez saw them, telling one of them, “I don’t know who these people are; they are trying to kidnap me.”

But instead of helping, the LAPD officers ignored her plea and allowed ICE agents to carry Velez, “like a child,” and put in an unmarked vehicle. She was detained for two days then released. On July 10, the charges were dismissed due to lack of reasonable suspicion or probable cause. 

Angel Pina, a U.S. citizen, was detained and arrested in Ontario on July 21. Pina and his wife were outside the Stater Brothers market, where ICE agents were interacting with three teenagers.

Pina’s wife called 911, asking for the Ontario Police Department’s presence, reporting ICE agents pushing one of the teenagers. However, ICE agents instead chased Pina and tackled him from behind and another one jumped on top of him. 

He was handcuffed and taken ot a vehicle when Ontario PD arrived. Then, a female Ontario PD opened the door to the ICE vehicle. 

“So contrary to what's been put out there by Ontario PD, our client, and we feel like Ontario PD was assisting these agents in the execution of their duties, like LAPD,” said Luis.

While the focus for now is the federal government, the attorneys don’t disregard the fact that local police departments should be held accountable.

CALÓ News reached out for a comment from DHS in regards to the claims, but hasn’t received a response yet.