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.
What if this wasn’t ICE, but human traffickers? Is there even a difference these days?
If you are standing by watching as the gestapo commits genocide, you are aiding the gestapo. Think about that when it’s your turn to be a bystander.
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.
yeah it’s almost like they want to have all the cruelty and punishments televised for the world to see because they’re horrible fucking people
The one good thing about this administration is that the cancer has been drawn out like the poison from a wound. Now, everyone can see it. This problem has been festering like a wound since the enactment of Civil Rights laws. But it has been burried. It was there. It always was. Just out of sight, thus out of mind. Look around everyone. Look at who is doing this. Never forget, and never forgive.
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.
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.
criminals are already mimicking this behavior actually
Criminals are already mimicing this behavior
Criminal see, criminal do.
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.
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.
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???
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.
Eventually, they will hit a citizen carrying. Until then, they won’t stop.
I think that’s the reason they’re going after soft targets and not going after criminal organizations because the criminal organizations are going to have a gunfight
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
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.
Yeah sorry I genuinely don’t understand the people saying call 911 as some form of protest or help for the victim like the cops aren’t gonna show up to support the white dudes totallyinsisting they should be there. The best you accomplish is making a dispatchers job more difficult and they are the real first responders, worst is clogging lines for an actual emergency.
You forgot to put an asterisk explaining why you singled out a race for no reason at all, even though it had nothing to do with whatever point your were trying to make.
Your only real enemy is the rich, and anyone protecting them, never ever forget that.
Edit: very slick, I wonder who downvoted
I did, and you have no life experience if you think race doesn’t play into it
Of course it’s another pretty young woman. These people are just human traffickers, not law enforcement.
TLDR:
Andrea Velez, a U.S. citizen and Cal Poly Pomona graduate, was violently detained by plainclothes federal agents in downtown Los Angeles while heading to work. Witnesses say officers in unmarked cars, without ID, tackled her without checking identification. Her family believes she was targeted due to her Hispanic appearance and fears retaliation, as her mother is a non-citizen resident. LAPD claimed they responded to a “kidnapping” call but later admitted it was an immigration operation. Velez’s whereabouts remain unknown, sparking outrage over racial profiling and unchecked enforcement.
TLDR, but for real this time:
Nazis kidnapped a U.S. citizen, then cops continued to be the worst people on the planet, and no one in power did anything to stop it.
If you’re gonna TLDR, really get into the meat of it.
I’m just trying to trick people into reading the article, just cut out the fluff, but you’re right ‘plainclothes federal agents’ are modern day Gestapo and not something I thought would exist in the modern day.
Someone is going to shoot an ICE “officer” before summer’s over
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.
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.
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”?
They are becoming unperson:
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.
Ok… time to start (legally) carrying a firearm every time I leave the house ATGATT
