‘Devastated’ family demands answers after two-year-old driven by armed agents from LA Home Depot parking lot

Masked, heavily armed federal immigration agents arrested a US citizen in the parking lot of a Los Angeles Home Depot store, then entered his car and drove away with his toddler, who is also a US citizen, in the backseat.

The child’s grandmother said the incident had left the whole family shaken. “I am devastated by what has happened to my son and demand an explanation,” she said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old father was picked up during a major enforcement operation at the Home Depot in LA’s Cypress Park neighborhood on Tuesday morning. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), five undocumented immigrants were also arrested.

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[–] 138 points 9 months ago* (2 children)

The DHS has alleged that the 32-year-old “exited his vehicle wielding a hammer and threw rocks at law enforcement while he had a child in his car”.

I assume every single one of ICE's self-jusitfying stories is false, until proven otherwise.

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  • [–] 69 points 9 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 46 points 9 months ago

    Nice way of saying kidnap.

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  • [–] 39 points 9 months ago

    “Surely there is a better way of enforcing their policies in a way that does not separate families or place tender aged children like this child in questionable circumstances,” said Renee Garcia, the communications director at the legal aid nonprofit ImmDef. “I think that it’s absolutely traumatizing for a child to be placed in that situation.”

    Oh, there is a better way. But the cruelty is the point so you will only ever see this way and worse from this administration.

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  • [–] 26 points 9 months ago

    Pedophilia has gotten way worse, I see. Better track that child.

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  • [–] 21 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    watched a video yesterday of agents going into a god damn daycare and pulling out a caregiver who was screaming. a god damn daycare.

    all the while people are standing by filming and I just felt an incredible amount of rage at watching it. I'm not even american and I was angry. This poor woman was screaming and crying and being dragged out of a fucking daycare centre begging for her life.

    If I were a parent and I saw either of these things happening first hand I would go ballistic. And with all the stories going around now of people posing as ICE agents to rob and sexually assault women how do I know these fuckers arn't one of them?

    it blows my mind that there's no body count on ice agents yet. I'm honestly surprised no one has shot at them.

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago

    And with all the stories going around now of people posing as ICE agents to rob and sexually assault women how do I know these fuckers arn't one of them?

    I'm asserting right now, that those are all ICE agents. How else could they be wearing official ICE uniforms? ICE can be accused of every crime committed in the US by a person wearing a mask, until they can confirm the whereabouts of every one of their agents at all times. Or until they change their uniforms.

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  • [–] 20 points 9 months ago

    I’d be honestly going insane if I was that father

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I realize this is a weird thing to get caught up on, but I'm gonna guess they didnt have a car seat for that toddler, and that enrages me almost as much as their mere existence

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  • [+] -12 points 9 months ago (1 child)
  • [+] -94 points 9 months ago* (5 children)

    Were they supposed to just leave the child alone after arresting the father? If so, would they have written this same story, but lambasted the officers for leaving the toddler alone?

    The Guardian for some reason is really focusing on the part that isn’t actually bad, in a story where bad things happened.

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  • [–] 88 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Police usually call a family member or something to come pick up the child at the scene or, at the worst, call CPS. Can't even hold themselves to US cop standards.

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  • [+] -59 points 9 months ago (5 children)

    "Your kid is at the station" is a pretty common way to do just that.

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  • [–] 44 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    I'm sorry, you think it's normal for federal agents to drive away in a citizens car WITH a child in it?

    Not to mention it was a 1 year old, and the family doesn't know what happened with the child during the HOURS they had here I their custody.

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  • [–] 38 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Cops don't even drive away in your car, even if it's evidence. They have to have it towed.

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago

    I'm sure if it happened to them they would be totally cool about it and completely understanding with the unidentified masked men taking off in their car with their 2yo in the back seat. I mean, who wouldn't be? Lol

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  • [–] 53 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Why did ICE arrest a US citizen? That's not their jurisdiction. If he did commit an arrestable offense, which is unlikely, local PD should be handling that. Period.

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  • [+] -16 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    Why did ICE arrest a US citizen?

    FTA: the 32-year-old “exited his vehicle wielding a hammer and threw rocks at law enforcement while he had a child in his car”

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  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

    Again, they should have called the police with juriscidtion if that were the case. They should have, at most, detained him on scene until cops show up.

    So far I've seen:

    • They pulled into a car and then violently arrested the driver because "she rammed their vehicle" despite footage clearly showing they drove into hers. They didn't want to get in trouble for causing an accident so they just made stuff up.
    • Even in the sandwich "attack" they asserted that the sandwich contents covered their vest, but footage showed it stayed in the wrapper the whole time.

    They clearly are cultivating a culture of make stuff up to blame the people they get mad at. They have zero credibility.

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  • [–] 9 points 9 months ago*

    First, in most cases these are unidentified masked men. You don't know foe sure if they are real government agents jumping out of an unmarked car. These kind of dangerous situations are being intentionally provoked.

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