MONTEBELLO, Calif. () — A series of immigration raids across Southern California Wednesday left workers and residents on edge.
Civil rights groups reported at least 20 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations from East Los Angeles to downtown, including one in Montebello captured on surveillance video.
Footage from Montebello shows an unmarked truck pulling up before ICE agents jump out and surround a home. Within seconds, one of them climbs a ladder onto the roof. Construction workers on the roof run and jump from one roof to another as they try to get away. No one was detained.
“They were just scared actually – just in fear for their lives. They didn’t know what was happening,” said Manny, the contractor who hired the workers.
Manny said he rushed to the job site when he heard what happened and found his crew nervous and scared.
“We just gathered and I prayed for all of them, and I prayed for their protection and that God would give us peace during this troubled time,” he said.
Manny said this doesn’t just affect the people ICE targets – it affects everyone trying to work and survive.
“Some people are scared to come back to work,” he said. “They’re just a little (shaken up) and they just don’t want to experience that again.”
Civil rights groups said Wednesday’s operation in Montebello was one of many taking place throughout the region.
Videos from Little Tokyo in downtown L.A., Commerce and Pico Rivera showed agents confronting and detaining people in public areas.
“They’re using brutal violence against an unarmed, civilian population to impose their political will,” said Ron Gochez of Union del Barrio. “Things are escalating and so for us, we know we have to continue our work, we have to continue organizing, we have to continue defending our community.”
Gochez pointed to a new California law requiring ICE agents not to wear face coverings, but he said it’s not being enforced.
“They don’t have to abide by state law or local ordinance, and so to pass these meaningless bills into law here in California when these are federal agents who don’t have to listen to them, it’s really a waste of our time,” he said.
Meanwhile, in cities like Montebello, neighbors said they’re thinking twice before leaving their homes.
Eyewitness News reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for an exact number of operations conducted in Southern California Wednesday and whether the people targeted had criminal backgrounds. Eyewitness News has not heard back.
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