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Flower buckets and personal belongings abandoned on a street corner. A fruit vendor’s yellow truck left behind. Videos of federal agents dragging a man from a Boyle Heights driveway, chasing someone in a parking lot and pinning down another during an arrest. These images spread across Boyle Heights on Wednesday in what became one of the heaviest days of immigration enforcement in the neighborhood since the raids began in June 2025.
Here is what we know about the people who were detained.
Hector Corea, Boyle Heights resident and flower vendor
Taken on 2nd Street and Mott Street around 9:45 a.m.
Hector Corea was selling flowers when he was captured by agents near 2nd and Mott streets.
Humberto Gonzalez said the vendor, who is Honduran, works for his family’s flower business. The flower vendor lives with Gonzalez’s father, who was inside the home when agents captured the vendor.
He sells flowers all over the city, Gonzalez said, and has lived in the Boyle Heights neighborhood for more than 20 years. He has a son in Honduras, Gonzalez said.
“He’s not a criminal,” Gonzalez said. “I grew up with that man. It hurts.”
Verita Topete of the social justice group Centro CSO happened to be in the area when she saw masked agents “forcefully shoving” Corea inside a gray Grand Wagoneer. She said she heard a commotion, “a bunch of neighbors honking their horns.”
“They kidnapped him. They took him,” she said. “It was hard to witness.”
Edgar Leonel Sincu, Boyle Heights resident
Taken on Indiana Street in Ramona Gardens around 9:53 a.m.
Edgar Leonel Sincu, 28, was in Ramona Gardens visiting friends on his day off when he was detained by masked federal agents, according to his cousin, who did not share his name out of fear for his safety. Sincu is from Guatemala and has been in the U.S. for three years, his cousin said.
“(Sincu) was a hard worker, nothing to do with what ICE has said about taking criminals,” he said.
A woman who lives in the area and did not want to be named out of fear for her safety said she saw two vehicles, a gray van and a white SUV, drive into the neighborhood just before 10 a.m.
Her daughter captured video of the incident.
About eight federal agents in masks got out of their vehicles and pinned down a man before putting him in a gray van, she recalled.
“At first I thought they were sheriffs, but then I saw that it said ICE,” she said. “I was yelling and yelling, but nobody came out.”
“I told (the agents), ‘Get off of him, you guys are hurting him,’ because he kept saying ‘No puedo respirar,’” she said.
Osbaldo Gutierrez, produce vendor known as “Don Valdo”
Taken on Michigan Avenue and Evergreen Avenue around 9:56 a.m.
Osbaldo Gutierrez, also known as “Don Valdo,” was detained while selling produce from his truck in Boyle Heights, according to a GoFundMe fundraiser organized by his daughter, Wendy Gutierrez.
Gutierrez was working near Michigan and Evergreen avenues when he was taken around 9:56 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Boyle Heights Immigrant Rights Network. A photo posted on social media and shared with Boyle Heights Beat shows Gutierrez’s yellow truck, with boxes of oranges and eggs in the back, abandoned in the middle of the street.
“My father Osbaldo is an amazing dad and loving husband. He has been in this country for over 30 years working hard every day as the head of household to provide for his family – his wife and 3 daughters,” the fundraiser states.
It continues, “He is very kind, well known, and loved in his Lincoln Heights community and surrounding L.A. area. He has been trying to get his residency for a long time but unfortunately was stereotypically targeted and taken abruptly by ICE as he was working his honest job in a Boyle Heights neighborhood.”
Abraham, Boyle Heights resident
Taken on Mathews Street near Cesar Chavez Avenue around 10:50 a.m.
Abraham, a Boyle Heights resident from Mexico, was visiting his family and standing on a sidewalk when he was randomly approached by federal agents in a black SUV in the 300 block of Mathews Street around 10:50 a.m., according to his nephew Chris, who witnessed the incident. Chris chose not to share his or his uncle’s last names to protect his family’s safety.
Chris, 30, said he heard yelling and commotion outside, and when he stepped out, he saw around four federal agents arresting his uncle, Abraham, who pleaded with agents to leave him alone, saying, “I live here, please leave me alone,” Chris recalled.
Videos circulating of the arrest show agents dragging Abraham into their vehicle in handcuffs.
“They tied him like a pig, they dragged him like an animal, they gave him his punches,” Chris said. “He’s a good guy, respectable guy, a hard worker.” Chris said his uncle is a construction worker and came to the U.S. 15 years ago from Mexico.
On Thursday, Chris told Boyle Heights Beat that his family was informed by staff at a detention center that he had been deported to Tijuana. Family members were out looking for him Thursday morning, Chris said.
“There should be no reason that Mexican American families should be going through this, sacrificing days of their work to go look for family members that have been kidnapped,” Chris said. “This is an assault to our Constitution.”
Flower vendor
Taken on Whittier Boulevard and Downey Boulevard around 1 p.m.
Another flower vendor was captured on the corner of Whittier and Downey boulevards, where BHIRN rapid responders retrieved her backpack, sweater, keys, flower buckets and other belongings.
Raquel Roman with BHIRN said they were working to identify the vendor and get in touch with her family. Roman spoke with a nearby business owner who identified the vendor as a woman.
Man near Food4Less
Taken on Mott Street and 1st Street around 1:30 p.m.
A man was chased and detained near Food4Less on Mott and 1st streets, according to Jacob Delgado, a witness who recorded and uploaded video of the incident on the Citizen app.
The footage on Citizen shows two masked agents who appear to be tying the man’s hands behind his back. One of the agents is seen wearing a green U.S. Border Patrol vest. “They dropped all his stuff and they just took him,” said Delgado, who did not know anything about the man.
Department of Homeland Security officials have not returned a request for comment about Wednesday’s operations.
