Small crowd confronts immigration agents at L.A. County shopping center
Federal immigration agents deployed smoke grenades on a small crowd while attempting to detain a man in a Los Angeles County shopping center on Friday.
The confrontation between Homeland Security Investigations and the small group of bystanders happened in the Pico Rivera Towne Center. It's the same place where Customs and Border Patrol arrested a U.S. citizen for allegedly punching an agent attempting to detain a man on Tuesday.
In the most recent immigration operation, witnesses said agents detained a man who had just walked out of the Starbucks with his coffee. A woman carrying a child and a man confronted the agents, who eventually used a smoke grenade after the man started yelling at the officers. A canister was left at the shopping center.
"You could feel the overpowering smell in your eyes, throat and nose," a woman who works nearby said.
Brianna Lemus showed up at the same shopping center with her friends when they heard the agents were there. The group surrounded one truck they believed was involved in the operation.
"We jumped in the car and made quick signs on my trunk, just drove around honking, letting the whole neighborhood know they're here," Lemus said.
The City of Pico Rivera said Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles were seen throughout the community, including the City Hall parking lot. City officials asked the agents to leave. Local leaders said the city and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department do not support nor participate in any federal immigration enforcement operations.
A man who wanted to stay anonymous said federal agents detained his uncle at a nearby construction site hours after the confrontation in the Pico Rivera Towne Center.
"They pulled him over," he said. "Detained him and took him away ... I see them put him in an ICE van."
Construction site manager Luis Montoya took cell phone video of vans pulling away from the construction site after he witnessed agents handcuff a man and asked one of his workers for an ID.
"They stood out here for a little while," Montoya said. "They wanted to come inside the property. I told them I was the person in charge here right now and that they didn't have my permission to come inside."
More cell phone video shows agents talking to two men at a nearby Superior Grocers store, but it's unclear if they were detained.
Some residents said agents are terrorizing their community and impacting their daily lives.
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