Activists demand release, fair hearings for 3 men detained in Pomona federal raid
Activists and community members held a press conference outside Pomona City Hall on Tuesday, demanding answers and transparency after a court hearing was held for three detained workers.
On April 22, at least 10 day laborers were taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents as they waited outside a Home Depot store, looking for work.
The raid sparked concern as immigrant rights advocates protested the targeting of those they described as innocent civilians.
Video of the raid showed Border Patrol vehicles surrounding the store's parking lot as the laborers were taken to an undisclosed location.
Activists said three of those undocumented workers were later transferred into the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and were being held at a detention facility in Calexico.
From left: Edwin Juarez, Johnny Garcia, and Jesus Domingo Ros are seen in photos provided by their families.
Community activists, immigration rights advocates and community members held a rally and press conference outside Pomona City Hall on May 6, 2025, demanding that three undocumented day laborers who were detained in a federal raid be given a fair bond hearing and due process. (KTLA)
Alexis Teodoro, a Worker Rights Director with the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center, spoke at a rally and press conference that was held outside Pomona City Hall on May 6, 2025. (KTLA)
Community activists, immigration rights advocates and community members held a rally and press conference outside Pomona City Hall on May 6, 2025, demanding that three undocumented day laborers who were detained in a federal raid be given a fair bond hearing and due process. (KTLA)
Home Depot store in Pomona, California. (KTLA)
Community activists, immigration rights advocates and community members held a rally and press conference outside Pomona City Hall on May 6, 2025, demanding that three undocumented day laborers who were detained in a federal raid be given a fair bond hearing and due process. (KTLA)
A bond hearing for the three workers was scheduled on Tuesday morning for Jesus Domingo Ros, Edwin Juarez, and Johnny Garcia.
'I will remind the public that an immigration judge only considers two factors to issue a bond hearing: Is this detainee a flight risk? Is this detainee a national security threat or public safety risk?' said Alexis Teodoro, a Worker Rights Director with the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center.
But during Tuesday's hearing, Teodoro claimed ICE officials said the local immigration judge lacked jurisdiction because the men had been living in the U.S. for less than one year, making them ineligible for a bond hearing and instead, subject to expedited removal.
Teodoro said not only were those claims false, but that none of the men are threats to public safety and a bond hearing is within their basic rights.
'All three men have been living in the United States for more than two years,' Teodoro said. 'ICE is trying to push through expedited deportations by lying to the court and denying these men the most basic rights, like the right to be heard. Looking for work is not a crime. Waiting for a job opportunity outside a Home Depot isn't a threat to anyone.'
Arturo Burga, an immigration attorney based in the Inland Empire, shed more light on the case.
'If you don't have any evidence that you've been in the country for more than two years, you could be at risk of expedited removal and that's very fast,' Burga said.
If evidence to support that timeline isn't found, Burga said their due process is limited. However, if they have indeed been living in the U.S. for more than a year, they'll have more options.
'They'll get an opportunity to defend themselves from deportation with an immigration judge, but that process is not quick,' Burga said.
In a previous statement on the Home Depot raid, CBP officials said, 'Agents conducted an operation in Pomona targeting an illegal alien with an active arrest warrant. During the operation, nine additional illegal aliens were encountered and taken into custody. Several of those apprehended had prior charges, including child abuse, assault with a deadly weapon, immigration violations, and DUI.'
Immigrant rights advocates and community members held a demonstration outside a Home Depot store in Pomona on April 22, 2025, protesting a raid that involved the arrest of a group of day laborers at the location. (KTLA)
Cell phone video from a witness showed several unmarked vehicles and vans reportedly belonging to U.S. Customs and Border Protection as agents surrounded a Home Depot store in Pomona and arrested a group of day laborers on April 22, 2025.
Cell phone video from a witness showed several unmarked vehicles and vans reportedly belonging to U.S. Customs and Border Protection as agents surrounded a Home Depot store in Pomona and arrested a group of day laborers on April 22, 2025.
Surveillance video showed Miguel Majin's father being surrounded at gunpoint and taken into custody by immigration officials outside his barber shop in Pomona on April 22, 2025. (Miguel Majin)
Surveillance video showed Miguel Majin's father being surrounded at gunpoint and taken into custody by immigration officials outside his barber shop in Pomona on April 22, 2025. (Miguel Majin)
Immigrant rights advocates and community members held a demonstration outside a Home Depot store in Pomona on April 22, 2025, protesting a raid that involved the arrest of a group of day laborers at the location. (KTLA)
Immigrant rights advocates and community members held a demonstration outside a Home Depot store in Pomona on April 22, 2025, protesting a raid that involved the arrest of a group of day laborers at the location. (KTLA)
Home Depot store in Pomona, California. (KTLA)
However, Teodoro claimed many of the detained laborers did not have criminal records. As for the three workers they're representing, they intend to prove the men have been living and working in the U.S. for more than a year, that they should be released, and that they deserve a fair hearing before a judge.
'We demand that their due process rights are respected and that they are at least given the opportunity to post bond,' Teodoro said.
A follow-up court hearing is scheduled for May 9.
KTLA has reached out to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for a statement and is awaiting a response.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump announces EU trade deal that sees 15% flat tariff for products coming to US
Donald Trump announced a trade agreement with the European Union Sunday that will cut tariff rates down to 15 percent on imports from the trade bloc, while US exports will be tariff-free. The president spoke alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry golf course in Scotland as he announced the news. 'All of the countries will be opened up to trade with the United States at zero tariff [for U.S. exports],' Trump told reporters, shaking von der Leyen's hand. 'We are agreeing that the tariff straight across for automobiles and everything else, will be a straight across tariff of 15 percent. So we have a tariff of 15 percent; we have the opening up of all of the European countries, which I think I could say [those markets] were essentially closed,' said the president. He also touted a number of impending EU investments, including a purchase of military materials. Von der Leyen confirmed: 'It is 15 percent tariffs across the board.' 'We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world, and it's a big deal. It's a huge deal. It will bring stability. It will bring predictability. That's very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic,' said the European Commission president. The announcement comes ahead of the Trump administration's planned August 1 deadline for enforcement of the president's so-called 'reciprocal' tariffs. Trump had threatened to hike that rate to 30 percent in a letter this month. Asked about U.S. concessions in the deal, and the apparent imbalance of the U.S.-E.U. tariff rates going forward, von der Leyen cast the agreement as meant to address existing issues, and told one reporter: 'The starting point was an imbalance, a surplus on our side and a deficit on the U.S. side.' The president briefly answered questions from reporters, though he claimed not to hear one about his deputy attorney general (and former personal attorney)'s meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, imprisoned accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein. He also claimed to have told the respective leaders of Cambodia and Thailand that the two countries needed to cease armed clashes along their respective borders in order to secure trade agreements with his administration. The president would go on to complain that the U.S. was not sufficiently praised for its investment in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-led effort to provide aid in Gaza that appears to have utterly failed to avert widespread famine and has long been labeled an effort by the Israeli government to save face by its critics. Further information about the agreement was not immediately released by the White House, either to pool reporters or through other media channels. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Lauren Boebert's son charged with child abuse in incident she described as a ‘miscommunication'
Rep. Lauren Boebert's son has been charged with child abuse following an incident involving her grandson that she described as a 'miscommunication.' Tyler Boebert, 20, the eldest son of the MAGA congresswoman, was cited for criminal negligence where no death or injury occurred, which is a misdemeanor, for the July 11 incident, according to Windsor Police Department records obtained by Denver Westword. Authorities have not yet shared details about the incident, which the 38-year-old congresswoman brushed off as 'a miscommunication on monitoring my young grandson that recently led to him getting out of the house.' In a statement, the congresswoman described her son's legal trouble as a 'one-time incident,' noting there was 'no injury or physical abuse involved.' Child Protective Services met with the family, the congresswoman added. Despite this, it's not the first run-in with the law for the congresswoman's 20-year-old son, whose girlfriend became pregnant with his child when he was just 17. In September of 2022, Tyler Boebert flipped his father's SUV into a creek, leaving the person in his passenger seat with multiple concussions and a severely lacerated hand. He was ticketed for careless driving. The case was eventually dropped down to a 'defective vehicle for headlights' ticket under a plea deal. Then, in January 2024, he called the police to report that his father, Jayson, was assaulting him, leading to his arrest. During the incident, the father 'pushed Tyler to the ground and pushed his thumb into his mouth,' according to the arrest affidavit. A month later, Tyler was slapped with more than a dozen felony charges for a series of thefts from vehicles – and for using stolen credit cards at local gas stations. Tyler Boebert pleaded guilty last October to a single charge of attempting to commit identity theft and was given a two-year deferred judgment, allowing his felony to be cleared from his record after completing his 24-month probation term. He was required to complete 80 hours of community service and was banned from using controlled substances. It was not immediately clear whether the most recent citation would be a breach of his probation. He is due in Weld County Court on September 8. Lauren Boebert did not immediately return The Independent's request for comment.
CBS News
13 minutes ago
- CBS News
Stockton woman sitting in her car shot during robbery struggle
A Stockton woman sitting in her car was shot during a robbery early Sunday morning, Stockton Police said. Just after 2 a.m., police said that a 44-year-old woman was sitting in her car on the 500 block of North Stanislaus Street when a man forced his way into her car. The suspect allegedly shot the woman during a struggle and then left the scene with her purse, police said. She was taken to a hospital with an injury that was not life-threatening. According to police, the suspect showed up at a hospital with a life-threatening gunshot wound. He was arrested at the hospital, police said. Police identified the suspect as 27-year-old Antonio Eppinger and said he was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and robbery.
