LOS ANGELES – A US citizen, who said he was among 30 people who were detained by federal agents during a raid in Hollywood, is speaking out.
37-year-old Job Garcia told FOX 11’s Susan Hirasunsa that he was making a delivery to The Home Depot when he saw vehicles pull in and block the exits to prevent people from driving away. That’s when he started recording on his phone as he witnessed the tactics agents used to detain day laborers.
Eventually. Garcia found himself in ICE custody.
What they’re saying:
He said all the agents involved were wearing masks and their badges were either missing or covered and none had revealed their identity.
He told bystanders not to engage with agents, and repeatedly asked the agents to identify themselves. That’s when one of them lunged at Garcia, shoving him and grabbing his phone.
“I told him I was like, if you guys are going to be doing that, at least show your face. Like, show your ID. They didn’t have no form of identification. They were just indiscriminately, like just grabbing people and arresting them. And then I saw in the back there a cargo van. They were asking the gentleman who was in there, an older gentleman, probably in his 60s, and after that he tapped on the window and he broke his window, started telling them he had no right to do that. And that’s when the ICE agent lunged at me. He pushed me. He put his hands on me. So my initial reaction was to push his hand off my chest. And then that’s when 3 or 4 other agents swarmed in and tackled me,” Garcia told FOX 11.
Garcia said the agents worked together to find something to pin on him.
“It seemed like they wanted to charge me with with assault on a federal agent. But I think they started seeing the videos of what took place, and they saw that the aggressor was the ICE agent.”
He also said the agents spoke disparagingly to him in Spanish and may have forgotten he was an English speaker.
“Because they were laughing, they were boasting about the amount of people that they grabbed like, oh, we grabbed 31 and they’re like, hahaha. That was a good day. Good job,” Garcia explained.
Garcia was first taken to Dodger Stadium, which he believes is used as a transfer point for detainees, before being moved to the Metropolitan Detention Center. He was eventually released on Friday.
Dig deeper:
He said while at the detention center, Garcia realized that he and Walmart employee Adrian Martinez were being hailed as heroes by detainees.
Federal agents arrested Martinez outside a Pico Rivera Walmart after they said he punched two agents. Security footage from the store doesn’t appear to show Martinez throwing punches. Martinez was also released from custody on Friday. Martinez’ attorney said no assault charges were filed, but he was instead charged with conspiracy to impede or injure an officer, which is considered a felony.
RELATED: Feds say man punched agents at Pico Rivera Walmart – security footage shows no punches
Garcia does not know what charges, if any, will be leveled against him.
The Source: Information for this story came from an interview with Job Garcia and previous FOX 11 reports.
