- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
The family members of a U.S. citizen who was taken into custody by federal agents in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday are demanding answers as she was detained while on her way to work.
Andrea Velez, a Cal Poly Pomona grad working in merchandising at a shoe company, had just been dropped off by her mother and sister for the workday when they saw her being taken into custody, adding they had barely even driven a block before the arrest began.
“They didn’t have vests that said ICE or anything,” said Velez’s sister Estrella Rosas. “Their cars didn’t have license plates.”
She says that her mother was driving away when she looked in her rearview mirror at what was described by police as immigration enforcement.
“In the rear mirror she saw my sister was kinda, like, attacked from the back and she was already on the floor,” Rosas said.
Video shows a growing crowd of onlookers yelling as officers surround the 32-year-old woman. Her family members were too scared to get out, as Rosas’ mother has residency but not full U.S. citizenship.
They’re also worried that Velez may have been holding pepper spray, which they say she always carries in her hand when walking downtown, when agents approached her.
Witnesses told CBS News Los Angeles that no one asked for her identification, but her family believes that it was nothing she actually did that led to her arrest, but rather the way she looks.
“Just because of the color of our skin, they think we’re criminals,” Rosas said. “My sister was there, so they were like, ‘Oh, she looks Hispanic, so let’s take her too.’”
As of Tuesday night, they have still not been able to find out where Velez is being held and are worried it could be days before they finally do.
CBS News Los Angeles has reached out to the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement for information on Velez’s arrest but has not yet heard back. An inquiry was also made asking how agents check a person’s status when they first come into contact, and how they find the people they’re targeting in enforcement operations.
Some of the video circulating online, showing Velez’s arrest, also shows a group of Los Angeles police who appear to be aiding federal agents in the immigration operations.
Later Tuesday, officers told CBS News Los Angeles that they were called to the area after receiving a 911 call reporting a kidnapping at the location. When they arrived, they say that they saw that a federal immigration operation was underway and stayed to maintain peace because they were concerned by the growing crowd and the federal agents.
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Our ICE officers are now facing a 500 percent increase in assaults against them while they carry out enforcement operations
Those are rookie numbers.
The saddest part of this post is that th title has to stipulate that the disappeared is a US citizen. Because so many now are willing to accept that disappearing non-citizens is just hunkydory.
For me the point I want to make is that none of us are safe. We need to protect due process for everyone. Yes there are a subset of people that don’t care about the gov. deporting non citizens. If they see it’s happening to citizens, maybe they will start to care, maybe they will see how wrong it is to violate the rights of immigrants. I dunno. Like how do you reach these people to show them how wrong it all is?
Don’t go to a second location with someone who makes you uncomfortable
You may disappear, you’re trusting this person or people who make you uncomfortable with your safety.
Fight for your life.
If you’re gonna lose that fight, drag one with you.
This is why the black panthers carried AK’s
I agree, unfortunately. If these people aren’t going to properly identify themselves & instead drive around in unmarked cars with masks on, what makes them any different than a criminal? How do we know they aren’t criminals? If a criminal mimics this behavior, what’s to stop them?
These current tactics are shadowy & undermining rule of law (nevermind the behavior much farther up the chain). There has to be some way to validate this as state activity. Otherwise, we’ll get more copy cat criminals where the public can’t provide any meaningful facts.
what makes them any different than a criminal?
Given that they’re committing crimes, they literally ARE criminals. Abducting people without due process is kidnapping no matter who you are.
Why are you the only person bringing reason to this conversation?
Dunno, other people are busy or asleep? 🤷
That is wildly optimistic. I envy that.
Criminals are already mimicing this behavior
Criminal see, criminal do.
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Why unfortunately?
If I were to use unfortunately in this context, I would say, “unfortunately the abductors were not gunned down on the spot.”
Thats the only way I could think to use that appropriately here.
“Unfortunate that it’s necessary” is probably what they meant
That’s when California started restricting firearms so heavily, under Republican leadership at the time.
The Republicans love to talk about CA gun restrictions, and conveniently leave out that they started it specifically to undermine citizens expressing their 2nd amendment rights in the state.
Don’t forget the NRA supported such gun control
Here’s a good thing to remember, Nazis are in control. Arm yourselves.
Do it before you can’t.
Later Tuesday, officers told CBS News Los Angeles that they were called to the area after receiving a 911 call reporting a kidnapping at the location. When they arrived, they say that they saw that a federal immigration operation was underway and stayed to maintain peace because they were concerned by the growing crowd and the federal agents.
remember, calling the police won’t save you or someone else from being abducted, they’ll just “keep the peace” (read: keep any bystanders from saving you) while you are.
911 dispatcher: A kidnapping? Those kidnappers need our help!
For months, masked individuals with no police agency markings have been leaping out of unmarked vehicles that have no licence plates, refusing to identify themselves in any way, then kidnapping people off of the streets; and not one of them has faced any true resistance.
What the fucked has happened to America. Is “hey don’t do that”, really all you’ve got???
Eventually, they will hit a citizen carrying. Until then, they won’t stop.
I’m in Texas and I’m really shocked it hasn’t happened yet.
I recon they’re doing this in California because California has such strict gun laws
That works brilliantly right until some Cholo rams a bayonet they bought at a flee market into their gut. I ain’t making fun of them, Cholos and flee markets are great.
Thanks to Elon, they do have records of all FOID cards. This probably plays a role in arrests already.
Even then, they won’t stop, they’ll play the victim after shooting the guy. If you shoot back, even if you didn’t know they were police or federal agents you’ll still get prosecuted.
*Executed, extra judicially
Ain’t no way these fucks are going to let up at the opportunity to unload their mags into anybody who shoots at them.
I don’t think you’ll get prosecuted. I think you’ll get dead. Pigs have never cared about due process, and they love to act aggrieved and play the victim to further justify their inexcusable brutality.
I think they are counting on it.
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I do have to say, they’ve faced resistance from the people, but they have not faced consequences from the only people that can give it to them.
Not trying to dig on you, but nuance is important.
What the fucked has happened to America.
We didn’t create legislation to prevent propaganda networks from brainrotting the dumbest segment of our population.
We also have a treasonous party abdicating their responsibilities and ceding their power to an authoritarian while making gaslighting Americans and disenfranchising voters their entire policy platform.
Someone is going to shoot an ICE “officer” before summer’s over
One can only hope.
I bet you anything it’s already happened, but they’re not willing to report on it, similar to how they thought they could demonize the justice that happened to that fucker from United healthcare.
Good.
How long before somebody lights these fuckers up?
Ask any MAGA citizen what they would do if the feds came to illegally ship them or their loved ones to some random 3rd world country, but see how quickly they’ll call you a terrorist for doing the same
You can ask a MAGA person almost anything and get a “I’m a hardass” type answer. However, the reality is many are cowardly little shits.
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HahaahhahahahhHahaha
I’ll spill the beans on this one, I’ll make sure the sticker on the back of my lifted truck says “please tread on me daddy/punisher/fuckin trump haircut somehow” but in reality, I don’t know what any of it means and if you ever question me on it, not only is my dick going to shrink by at least 4 inches, but I’ll do my best to threaten you, puss out and run away.
It seems like that’s the only way this is going to stop.
This lady was the second person arrested by them during this timeframe. The first person, a guy who was apparently defending a tamale street vendor, might have also been a US citizen.
I presume they’re all U.S. citizens until proven otherwise in court.
That’s how it should be.
Of course it’s another pretty young woman. These people are just human traffickers, not law enforcement.
Didn’t Biden deport over 4 million without needing gestapo tactics? It’s clear that even the deportations aren’t really the main goal, it’s fear and repression of the population.
And it’s being reported that Trump is even deporting people at a lower rate compared to Biden, which is very telling when you consider how little attention this was getting with Biden.
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The police are traitors to America, and should be considered ICE collaborators at Nuremberg.
What if this wasn’t ICE, but human traffickers? Is there even a difference these days?
Nope.
An inquiry was also made asking how agents check a person’s status when they first come into contact, and how they find the people they’re targeting in enforcement operations.
Yeah if you can’t answer this question within 4 months of this shit, it might be a good time to report the only other option. But no, let’s keep giving them the benefit of the doubt in the media.
Do not forget, anyone working any police job is an enemy, and anyone reporting on it unfaithfully is also the enemy.
I get that I’m no longer with the lingo, but “disappearing someone” sounds off. Same with “unaliving someone,” but I get trying to get around online filters. Is there something wrong with saying “kidnapped” or “abducted”?
“Disappearing someone” goes back a ways. It’s more than kidnapping or abduction because it is an action taken by authoritarian regimes to not just kidnap someone but, generally make it nearly impossible to locate them, often with torture and/or murder and ensuring that the body isn’t found. The goal is to terrorize the populace by making dissidents and others in targeted populations disappear without a trace, effectively erasing them from their communities. This is coupled with tacit refusal of anyone in government that is supposed to help to get involved.
ICE is openly committing terrorist acts in the exact same way that the gestapo and stasi did.
Yep, CIA backed regimes would fly people out over the ocean and drop them out of the helicopter. The family would never know what happened to them.
I’ve seen it explained elsewhere and it makes sense to me. Kidnapping usually implies a person being taken with the intention of negotiating for their release, where disappeared is more often associated with avoidance of giving any substantial information to a party seeking their return.
Kidnapping usually implies a followup with a demand for ransom.
They are becoming unperson:
No, disappearing someone is a way worse subcategory of kidnapping
When you disappear someone, no one knows if they’re alive or dead, where they are, or what’s going to happen to them. They could be dead immediately, or dropped off at home in 3 years. Or they could be dropped off in Somalia with no ID and no money
To me “disappearing someone” sounds off compared to “making them disappear.”
Well, making someone disappear could be all kinds of things depending on the context
Disappearing someone is something done by spooks and special police. It has specific implications
