Latest news with #BrianGavidia
The Independent
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Groups sue to stop Trump administration from using what they call unconstitutional tactics in raids
A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday accuses President Donald Trump 's administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California during an ongoingimmigration crackdown that has put the region 'under siege.' The court filing by Los Angeles immigrant advocacy groups in U.S. District Court seeks a temporary restraining order to block the administration from using what they call 'unconstitutional' tactics they say include detaining someone based on their race, warrantless arrests, and denying people access to attorneys. Federal agents have violently and indiscriminately arrested people without probable cause while carrying out 'immigration raids flooding street corners, bus stops, parking lots, agricultural sites, day laborer corners," the complaint said. The complaint centers around three detained immigrants, several immigrant rights groups and two U.S. citizens, one who was held despite showing agents his identification. A video taken by a friend June 13 shows Los Angeles resident Brian Gavidia being pushed up against a fence by federal agents as he yells, 'I was born here in the states, East LA bro!' 'Armed, masked goons in unmarked cars have descended in our community and have stopped and rounded people up from all walks of life, often at gunpoint and without any justification,' said Mohammad Tajsar, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. In addition, the complaint claims that those arrested are held in 'dungeon-like' conditions without access to lawyers, pressuring them to sign voluntary departures papers without informing them of their rights. Families of detainees have relayed reports of horrific conditions inside a detention facility in downtown LA, including inmates who are so thirsty that they have been drinking from the toilets, people sleeping on the ground, and meals consisting of only bags of chips and cookies. The lawsuit comes days after the Trump administration sued Los Angeles to overturn what it called an illegal sanctuary city law. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said in an email that 'any claims that individuals have been 'targeted' by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE.' McLaughlin said 'enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence" before making arrests. 'All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members,' she said. Attorneys say they hope to argue the issue in front of a judge within the next few days and obtain a restraining order that would apply to seven counties across Southern California. Emmanuel Karim, the manager of a car wash in southern Los Angeles County, said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit that he thought they were being robbed when masked federal agents in unmarked vehicles first surrounded his business June 22. 'We have these signs that say, 'This is a private area, employees only,' especially in the tunnel, because there is dangerous machinery in there,' Karim said. 'They started running through the tunnel, and my employees got scared.' At no point did they identify themselves or answer Karim when he asked what they were doing, he said. They detained two of his workers, Karim said. Tens of thousands of people participated in recent rallies over immigration raids and the subsequent deployment of the National Guard and Marines. Los Angeles prosecutors have charged more than 40 people in connection with protest-related violence and vandalism. Among the latest people charged were a man and woman accused of assaulting police horses and a 17-year-old boy who faces felony counts, including attempted murder and assault against an officer. At least 14 people are facing separate federal charges on allegations of assaulting police officers with cinder blocks and Molotov cocktails, and conspiracy to impede arrests.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Yahoo
Fears of racial profiling rise as Border Patrol conducts 'roving patrols,' detains U.S. citizens
Brian Gavidia had stepped out from working on a car at a tow yard in a Los Angeles suburb Thursday when armed, masked men — wearing vests with 'Border Patrol" on them — pushed him up against a metal gate and demanded to know where he was born. 'I'm American, bro!' 29-year-old Gavidia pleaded, in video taken by a friend. 'What hospital were you born?' the agent barked. 'I don't know, dawg!' he said. 'East L.A., bro! I can show you: I have my f—ing Real ID.' His friend, whom Gavidia did not name, narrated the video: 'These guys, literally based off of skin color! My homie was born here!' The friend said Gavidia was being questioned 'just because of the way he looks." In a statement Saturday, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said U.S. citizens were arrested "because they ASSAULTED U.S. Border Patrol Agents." (McLaughlin's statement emphasized the word 'assaulted' in all-capital and boldfaced letters.) When told by a reporter that Gavidia had not been arrested, McLaughlin clarified that Gavidia had been questioned by Border Patrol agents but there "is no arrest record." She said a friend of Gavidia's was arrested for assault of an officer. As immigration operations have unfolded across Southern California in the last week, lawyers and advocates say people are being targeted because of their skin color. The encounter with Gavidia and others they are tracking have raised legal questions about enforcement efforts that have swept up hundreds of immigrants and shot fear into the deeply intertwined communities they call home. Agents picking up street vendors without warrants. American citizens being grilled. Home Depot lots swept. Car washes raided. The wide-scale arrests and detainments — often in the region's largely Latino neighborhoods — contain hallmarks of racial profiling and other due process violations. Read more: Multiple immigration sweeps reported across L.A., with a tense standoff downtown "We are seeing ICE come into our communities to do indiscriminate mass arrests of immigrants or people who appear to them to be immigrant, largely based on racial profiling," said Eva Bitran, a lawyer at ACLU of Southern California. When asked about the accusations of racial profiling, the White House deflected. Calling the questions "shameful regurgitations of Democrat propaganda by activists — not journalists," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson chided Times reporters Saturday for not reporting the "real story — the American victims of illegal alien crime and radical Democrat rioters willing to do anything to keep dangerous illegal aliens in American communities." She did not answer the question. McLaughlin said in a statement, 'Any claims that individuals have been 'targeted' by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE." She said the suggestion fans the flames and puts agents in peril. 'DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence," she said. "We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability. "We will follow the President's direction and continue to work to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens off of America's streets,' she said. The unprecedented show of force by federal agents follows orders from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump's immigration plan and a Santa Monica native, to execute 3,000 arrests a day. In May, Miller reportedly directed top ICE officials to go beyond target lists and have agents make arrests at Home Depot or 7-Eleven convenience stores. U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not answer specific questions about the encounter with Gavidia and said that immigration enforcement has been "targeted." The agency did not explain what is meant by targeted enforcement. But a federal criminal complaint against Javier Ramirez, another of Gavidia's friends, said Border Patrol agents were conducting a "roving patrol" in Montebello around 4:30 p.m. when they "engaged a subject in a consensual encounter" in a parking lot on West Olympic Boulevard. The complaint noted that the parking lot is fenced and gated, but that, at the time of the interaction, the gate to the parking lot was open. The enforcement was part of a roving patrol in what John B. Mennell, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, said was a "lawful immigration enforcement operation" in which agents also arrested "without incident" an immigrant without legal status. Gavidia said he and Ramirez both rent space at the tow yard to fix cars. On video captured by a security camera at the scene, the agents pull up at the open gate in a white SUV and three agents exit the car. At least one covers his face with a mask as they walk into the property and begin looking around. Shortly after, an agent can be seen with one man in handcuffs calmly standing against the fence, while Ramirez can be heard shouting and being wrestled to the ground. Gavidia walks up on the scene from the sidewalk outside the business where agents are parked. Seeing the commotion, he turns around. An agent outside the business follows him and then another does. Gavidia, whom Mennell identified as a third person, was detained "for investigation for interference (in an enforcement operation) and released after being confirmed to be a U.S. citizen with no outstanding warrants." "Video didn't show the full story," he said in a statement. But it is unclear from the video exactly what that interference is. And Gavidia denies interfering with any operations. Customs and Border Protection, the agency that has played a prominent role in the recent sweeps, is also under a federal injunction in Central California after a judge found it had engaged in 'a pattern and practice' of violating people's constitutional rights in raids earlier this year. U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Greg Bovino, who oversaw raids that included picking people up at Home Depot and stopping them on the highway, has emerged as a key figure in L.A. He stood alongside Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday at a news conference where Sen. Alex Padilla — the state's first Latino U.S. senator — was handcuffed, forced to the ground and briefly held after interrupting Noem with a question. Read more: Tensions over L.A. immigration sweeps boil over as Padilla is tackled, ICE arrests pick up "A lot of bad people, a lot of bad things are in our country now," Bovino said. "That's why we're here right now, is to remove those bad people and bad things, whether illegal aliens, drugs or otherwise, we're here. We're not going away." Bovino said hundreds of Border Patrol agents have fanned out and are on the ground in L.A. carrying out enforcement. A federal judge for the Eastern District of California ordered Bovino's agency to halt illegal stops and warrantless arrests in the district after agents detained and arrested dozens of farmworkers and laborers — including a U.S. citizen — in the Central Valley shortly before President Trump took office. The lawsuit, brought by the United Farm Workers and Central Valley residents, accused the agency of brazen racial profiling of people in a days-long enforcement. It roiled the largely agricultural area, after video circulated of agents slashing the tires of a gardener who was a citizen on his way to work, and it raised fears that those tactics could become the new norm there. The effort was 'proof of concept,' David Kim, assistant chief patrol agent under Bovino, told the San Diego investigative outfit Inewsource in March. 'Testing our capabilities, and very successful. We know we can push beyond that limit now as far as distance goes.' Bovino said at the news conference that his agents were "not going anywhere soon." "You'll see us in Los Angeles. You'll continue to see us in Los Angeles," he said. Bitran, who is working on the case in the Central Valley, said Miller's orders have "set loose" agents "with a mandate to capture as many people as possible," and that "leads to them detaining people in a way that violates the Constitution." In Montebello, a 78% Latino suburb that shares a border with East Los Angeles, Border Patrol agents took Gavidia's identification. Although they eventually let him go, Ramirez, also American and a single father of two, wasn't so lucky. Tomas De Jesus, Ramirez's cousin and his attorney, said authorities are accusing him of 'resisting arrest, assaulting people" after agents barged into a private business 'without a warrant, without a probable cause." Read more: Immigration raids roil L.A., dozens of people detained. What we know so far "What is the reasonable suspicion for him to be accosted?" De Jesus questioned. "What is the probable cause for them to be entering into a private business area? ... At this moment, it seems to me like they have a blanket authority almost to do anything." Ramirez has been charged in a federal criminal complaint with assaulting, resisting or impeding a federal officer. Authorities allege that Ramirez was trying to conceal himself and then ran toward the exit and refused to answer questions about his identity and citizenship. They also allege he pushed and bit an agent. De Jesus said Ramirez "was not attempting to flee, he did not assault anyone, and he raised his hands when confronted by CBP." He added: "He is the victim, not the aggressor." Montebello Mayor Salvador Melendez said he'd watched the video of Gavidia being questioned and called the situation "extremely frustrating." "It just seems like there's no due process," he said. "They're going for a specific look, which is a look of our Latino community, our immigrant community. They're asking questions after. ... This is not the country that we all know it to be, where folks have individual rights and protections." A third individual was detained on the street for investigation for interference and released after being confirmed to be a U.S. citizen with no outstanding warrants. Even before the video was looping on social media feeds, Angelica Salas — who heads one of the most well-established immigration advocacy groups in Los Angeles — said she was getting reports of "indiscriminate" arrests and American citizens being questioned and detained. "We have U.S. citizens who are being asked for their documents and not believed when they attest to the fact that they are U.S. citizens," said Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. "They just happen to be Latino." The Supreme Court has long held that law enforcement officers cannot detain people based on generalizations that would cast a wide net of suspicion on large segments of the law-abiding population. "Some of the accounts I have heard suggest that they're just stopping a whole bunch of people, and then questioning them all to find out which ones might be unlawfully present," said Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA Law School. An agent can ask a person about "anything," he said. But if the person declines to speak, the agent cannot detain them unless they have reasonable suspicion that the individual is unlawfully here. "The 4th Amendment as well as governing immigration regulations do not permit immigration agents to detain somebody against their will, even for a very brief time, absent reasonable suspicion," he said. Just being brown doesn't qualify. And being a street vendor or farmworker does not, either. A warrant to search for documents at a work site also is not enough to detain someone there. "The agents appear to be flagrantly violating these immigration laws," he said, 'all over Southern California." Gavidia said the agents who questioned him in Montebello never returned his Real ID. 'I'm legal,' he said. 'I speak perfect English. I also speak perfect Spanish. I'm bilingual, but that doesn't mean that I have to be picked out, like, 'This guy seems Latino; this guy seems a little bit dirty.' 'It was the worst experience I ever felt," Gavidia said, his voice shaking with anger as he spoke from the business Friday. "I felt honestly like I was going to die." On Saturday, Gavidia joined De Jesus in downtown L.A. for his first-ever protest. Now, he said, it felt personal. Times staff writer Andrea Castillo contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
CBS News
14-06-2025
- CBS News
Montebello man shouts "I am American" while immigration agents detain him
A face-to-face encounter with federal immigration agents has left Montebello man Brian Gavidia shaken and unable to sleep at night. Gavida said he was working at a tow yard on W. Olympic Boulevard in Montebello when he heard immigration agents were outside. An agent approached him when he stepped outside. Gavida said he told the officers he was an American citizen three times before they tried to detain him. "East Los Angeles born and raised, ma'am," he recalled telling an agent. "I am American. I stated I was American. He still attacked me. We are not safe, guys, not safe in America today." Gavida said the agent asked him what city and hospital he was born in before throwing him into a gate and twisting his arm. "I said, 'I don't know.' And because I didn't know, he threw me to the gate and he twisted my arm," Gavida said. "I said, 'Brother, I am American. You are twisting my arm.'" During the encounter, he said his friend, who is also an American citizen, was rough-handled by federal agents. "I see my friend state that he is an American," Gavidia said. "He gets slammed to the floor. He is bleeding from his forehead. I want to jump in and defend my friend. ICE agent looks at me with his AR-15. I can't win that battle." Gavidia said the agent took both his phone and Real ID and only let him go because his friend started filming. "I couldn't sleep last night," he said. "Let me tell you the truth: He took my ID, he took my phone. He never gave me back my ID. Is this guy going to come and pick me up at 2 or 3 a.m. I don't know." Gavidia said he won't be silenced about what he calls blatant mistreatment. "It doesn't make me happy to have my face out here like this," he said. "I don't want to be in this position. I don't want to have my face out here like this, but I have to. My people are getting attacked, and yeah I'm American, but I'm Latino as well." U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not respond to CBS News Los Angeles' request for comment.
Los Angeles Times
14-06-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Video shows immigration agents interrogating a Latino U.S. citizen: 'I'm American, bro!'
Brian Gavidia was at work on West Olympic Boulevard in Montebello at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday when he was told immigration agents were outside of his workplace. Gavidia, 29, was born and raised in East Los Angeles and fixes and sells cars for a living. He said he stepped outside. And saw four to six agents. Within seconds, he said, one of them — wearing a vest with 'Border Patrol Federal Agent' written on the back — approached him. 'Stop right there,' he said the agent told him. Then the agent questioned whether Gavidia was American. 'I'm an American citizen,' Gavidia said he told the agent at least three times. Despite his responses, the agent pushed him into a metal gate, put his hands behind his back and asked him what hospital he was born in, Gavidia said. Rattled by the encounter, he said he couldn't remember the hospital. Video taken by a friend shows two agents holding Gavidia against a blue fence. He tells them they are twisting his arm. 'I'm American, bro!' Gavidia said in the video. 'What hospital were you born?' the agent asked again, this time recorded in the video. 'I don't know dawg!' he said. 'East L.A. bro! I can show you: I have my f—ing Real ID.' His friend, who Gavidia did not name, narrated the video. As the incident continued, he said: 'These guys, literally based off of skin color! My homie was born here!' The friend said Gavidia was being questioned 'just because of the way he looks. ' Gavidia said he gave the Border Patrol agent his Real ID, but the agent never returned it to him. The agent also took his phone and kept it for 20 minutes, he said, before finally returning it. Even after the agent saw his ID, Gavidia said, he never apologized. In a response to questions from the Times, U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not answer questions about the encounter with Gavidia. The agency said in a statement that it is 'conducting targeted immigration enforcement in support of ICE operations across the Los Angeles area. Enforcing immigration law is not optional — it's essential to protecting America's national security, public safety, and economic strength.' The statement continued: 'Every removal of an illegal alien helps restore order and reinforce the rule of law.' Pressed by The Times for answers about that specific encounter, a CBP spokesperson said: 'The statement provided is the only info available about the operation at this time.' The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gavidia said another friend was arrested that afternoon at the same location. His name is Javier Ramirez, and he, too, is an American citizen. Tomas De Jesus, Ramirez's cousin and his attorney, said immigration agents had entered a private business, 'without a warrant without a probable cause, to warrant entering into a place like that.' De Jesus said his cousin began alerting people to the presence of the agents. He said he only learned of his cousin's whereabouts on Friday afternoon and said authorities are accusing him of 'resisting arrest, assaulting people.' 'We're still conducting an investigation to really understand and ascertain the facts of the case,' De Jesus said. De Jesus said he called the Metropolitan Detention Center and identified himself as an attorney wishing to speak with his client, but he was told attorneys were not allowed to see their clients at the moment. 'I was not given permission, I was not given access to even speak to him on the phone,' he said. Montebello Mayor Salvador Melendez, who watched video of the encounter with Gavidia, called the situation 'just extremely frustrating. 'It just seems like there's no due process,' he said. 'They're just getting folks that look like our community and taking them and questioning them.' Melendez said he got a call from a resident when immigration agents were on Olympic Boulevard. Melendez said he heard they were going out to other locations in the city, too. 'They're going for a specific look, which is a look of our Latino community, our immigrant community,' he said. Gavidia said his mother is Colombian and his father is Salvadoran. They are American citizens. 'He violated my rights as an American citizen,' Gavidia said, his voice shaking with anger as he spoke over the phone from his business Friday. 'It was the worst experience I ever felt. I felt honestly like I was going to die. He literally racked a chamber in his AR-15.' Gavidia's clothes were dirty from work, and he said he figured that's partly why agents questioned him. 'I'm legal,' he said. 'I speak perfect English. I also speak perfect Spanish. I'm bilingual, but that doesn't mean that I have to be picked out, like 'This guys seems Latino; this guy seems a little bit dirty.' I'm working, guys. I'm an American. We work. I'm Latino. We work.' He added: 'It's just scary, walking while brown, walking while dirty, coming home from work, there's a high chance you might get picked up.' Gavidia said he still doesn't have his Real ID back. He went to the Department of Motor Vehicles Friday morning and said immigration agents had stolen his ID. He said he was told he would need to reapply for another one. 'He took my ticket to freedom,' Gavidia said.
