Meet the Woman Spending Her Free Time Chasing ICE Vehicles
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
When Angie Vargas set off to Home Depot last month to help her sister out of a tight spot, she didn't expect it to be the birth of a popular TikTok account in which she pursues Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in her car.
Vargas's sister, a real estate agent in Los Angeles County, had been picking up materials from the Home Depot when ICE agents descended on the store.
Vargas's mother called her in tears, telling her that her sister was stuck and being teargassed. She asked Vargas to go help her sister get home.
"So I did, and I was able to get my sister out of that situation," Vargas told Newsweek in a phone interview.
"But when I got there, I just saw how bad it was."
California resident Angie Vargas.
California resident Angie Vargas.
Photo courtesy of Angie Vargas
Vargas was also teargassed in the process, and she saw the extent of the operation—ICE, sheriff departments from multiple precincts and various task forces were all present.
But Vargas also felt like she had discovered something about herself.
"I saw what I could do," she explained. "If I were able to get my sister, it just really encouraged me to go out there and do more for others, for the community."
Vargas's First Pursuit
A few days after the Home Depot raid, Vargas pulled into a gas station in Downey, CA and saw ICE agents detaining workers who were painting. One worker was in zip ties while the other watched.
Vargas approached the agents and started asking questions, and the agents tried to send her away.
"I just told them I had the right to record," Vargas said. "I went on [TikTok] live and I started trying to make people aware that ICE agents were around in Downey."
The agents, however, were upset that Vargas was recording them, and when she left, they blocked her off and wouldn't let her leave.
'It really upset me'
"That really pissed me off," she said. "I wasn't thinking of following them, but since they did that, it really upset me."
So Vargas began following the agents. For nearly an hour, she pursued the vehicle until finally they pulled onto the railroad tracks to escape, knowing that she wouldn't follow them with her Mercedes.
Vargas, however, wasn't quite finished: She sat and waited for nearly 15 minutes, alerting passing vehicles that ICE was sitting in the middle of the tracks.
"I know he was upset about that," she said.
'Someone's out here messing with ICE agents'
Vargas's going live as she followed the car turned out to be a mistake—TikTok removed the video because she was driving as she took it, which meant she had no recording of her favorite pursuit.
However, the experience demonstrated two things.
First, viewers really enjoy watching Vargas follow and confront ICE agents.
A two-part video of her pursuit of an ICE SUV (which culminated in the agents doing an illegal U-turn to get away from her) drew nearly 20 million views, and a commenter suggested she start a GoFundMe for gas that has now raised more than $23,000.
Another video in which ICE agents dipped and dodged through traffic on and off the freeway drew 2.2 million views.
"They're probably like, 'Not her again'," one commenter quipped.
The second thing Vargas realized was, "The more time I spend with them, the less time they spend with my community. That's how I see it."
Vargas's following swelled to more than 168,000, and even people who don't follow her are recognizing her work.
In one video that drew more than 700,000 views, Vargas waylaid ICE agents who were about to transport an elderly man to a detention center.
Vargas realized the man needed medical attention and called an ambulance, which came to treat the man and broke up the operation.
"Are you the woman who's been following them around?" one commenter wrote. "Bless your heart for helping that man."
Vargas said viewers have even reached out to tell her they are starting their own groups to pursue agents.
"I get comments from people like, 'Oh, my grandma watches your videos and she laughs so hard, and it makes her feel so much better that someone's out here messing with ICE agents because she can't'," Vargas said.
"So that makes me feel happy, just knowing that it's touching many generations."
Vargas said she doesn't fear for her safety when she pursues ICE agents, although she admits she isn't sure why.
'The main thing is just humanity'
"I'm pretty confident in what I'm doing," she said. "I've been told I'm very intimidating. I don't know why. The way that I speak, I'm very sure of myself.
"I know that I'm a US citizen. I was born here. I have my rights. I know my rights, and I stand firm with what I believe.
"And for the most part, I am respectful."
She told Newsweek she is deeply grateful for the support, pointing out, "I'm only standing with what's right. Regardless of all the politics or whatever that people have, the main thing is just humanity.
"That's what I stand by. Humanity."
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