A group of masked federal agents, some wearing Immigration and Customs Enforcement patches, detained a woman in Westlake on Thursday morning and at least one other person at a nearby Home Depot in a sweep of the neighborhood.
About 10 agents arrived in three vans around 10 a.m. at the MacArthur Park/Westlake Metro station, Westlake resident Aldo Rodríguez told The LA Local. The unidentified agents detained a woman in her 60s, he said. People in the area started running toward 7th and Alvarado streets when they saw the immigration sweep, according to Rodríguez and other witnesses.
“As soon as I realized what was happening, I got scared and started running,” Rodriguez said.
The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Video shared with The LA Local shows someone throw what appears to be a folding chair at one of the dark-colored vehicles driven by the masked agents.
Photos shared by Unión del Barrio, the rapid response group that tracks immigration enforcement across the region, show masked agents wearing tactical vests at the busy transportation hub. One masked agent pushes a person against a chain link fence, and another agent leads away a woman with her arms behind her back.
A few blocks away, at least one other person was detained at the Westlake Home Depot.
Witnesses said agents chased a person into the Home Depot on Wilshire Boulevard. Video shared on social media shows the agents leading out a person in handcuffs to a waiting vehicle.
Witnesses said that the man’s face was bloodied as he was being led away, according to Ron Gochez with Unión del Barrio.
Mario Rodas, a day laborer at the Home Depot, said agents detained his friend, another day laborer, inside the store.
He said his friend’s mouth was bleeding, and when he asked what happened, the man pointed at the masked agent who was taking him and said he had been hit. Agents also took his backpack.
Rodas said about seven agents arrived in three vans. The man who was detained is from Guatemala and Rodas said his name is Angel Perez.
The Department of Homeland Security declined to confirm if Thursday’s immigration enforcement was carried out by ICE or another federal agency.
The agency declined to provide information about why people were detained. Instead, a spokesperson said DHS “routinely conducts targeted operations at locations which are known to be frequented by criminal illegal aliens.”
This is a developing story.
