US Citizen Arrested by Immigration Officers Who Drove Away with His 1-Year-Old During Los Angeles Raid

The toddler's family members subsequently retrieved her from federal offices located in Los Angeles.

In Los Angeles, federal immigration officers apprehended a United States citizen during an operation outside a Home Depot location. Following the arrest, two officers entered the man's vehicle and drove away with his one-year-old daughter secured in her car seat in the back, according to family members and advocacy groups who condemned the action on Wednesday.

A video recorded by a member of the Los Angeles Rapid Response Network, a coalition advocating for immigrants, shows the man with his hands restrained behind his back and leaning against his vehicle before being led away. Two masked agents wearing helmets and protective vests then entered his car and departed. The footage includes a blurred image of the man's young daughter strapped in her car seat in the rear of the vehicle.

Bystanders can be seen recording the incident and heard shouting "there's a baby in the back!" as the agents drove away with the vehicle.

"Having armed officers enter a vehicle with that child and remove her from the situation was a dangerous action," stated Lindsay Toczylowski, co-founder of Immigrant Defenders Law Center. The legal organization, which handles immigration cases, was contacted by community members requesting assistance in reuniting the family, but isn't representing the man due to his American citizenship, she explained.

Toczylowski confirmed that the child's relatives later collected her from federal offices in Los Angeles.

"They should have followed procedures that prioritized the child's best interests," she added.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson stated via email that a U.S. citizen exited his vehicle brandishing a hammer and throwing rocks while Border Patrol agents conducted the operation. Officials reported he was arrested on assault investigation charges and that authorities discovered a pistol in his vehicle that was reportedly stolen from New York state. Officials did not address questions regarding why agents drove away with the child in the man's car.

Five immigrants were detained during the operation on suspected immigration violations, according to the spokesperson.

Ed Obayashi, a special prosecutor in California and expert on national and state police practices, noted that local police during DUI operations often encounter situations where parents are arrested with children left alone in vehicles. In those cases, officers typically call towing services because they don't want responsibility for the vehicle, and transport the children in patrol vehicles to the station where family members can retrieve them.

However, he indicated that federal immigration raids present different circumstances, and with onlookers recording video, he believes the officers likely made the most appropriate decision.

"I believe they were attempting to remove the vehicle and child from the situation to ensure safety," he stated.

The man's mother, Maria, informed reporters that the family received a call from an unknown number on Tuesday instructing them to collect the girl from U.S. Border Patrol offices in Los Angeles. She reported that the child is unharmed but asking for her father, who was born in California and works in the restaurant industry. The man's whereabouts on Wednesday were not immediately known.

Maria confirmed that both she and her granddaughter are also U.S. citizens. She declined to provide her surname to protect her granddaughter's identity.

"It's a truly frightening experience," she said in Spanish after viewing the video. "You don't know who those people are."