Armed ICE agents are accused of snatching people off U.S. streets without due process, with attorneys alleging racial profiling and illegal detentions.
Attorneys and immigrant advocates are sounding alarms after armed, masked ICE agents reportedly snatched individuals off the streets, including U.S. citizens, as part of what they call a racial profiling crackdown driven by federal arrest quotas.
Andrea Velez, a U.S. citizen, was grabbed by masked men in unmarked cars last month while heading to work. “They didn’t identify themselves,” Velez said at a news conference. “I was just going to work… everything happened so fast.”
Her lawyer, Dominique Boubion, said, “It’s arrest now, ask questions later.” Video footage shows Andrea asking LAPD officers for help before being carried off by an ICE agent.
Another case involved community activist Yuriana “Juli” Pelaez Calderon, who was taken at gunpoint and held without official records, according to attorney Stephano Medina. “DHS is now saying this is all made up,” he said.
The families of both women were forced to file missing persons reports in their desperate search for answers.