LOS ANGELES (AP) — A dramatic police incident unfolded in Los Angeles as federal immigration agents apprehended a U.S. citizen, leaving his one-year-old daughter alone in his car during a raid at a Home Depot store.
A video surfaced showing heavily armed agents arresting the man outside the store with his daughter strapped into her car seat inside the vehicle. After the arrest, the agents proceeded to drive away in the car with the child still inside.
Lindsay Toczylowski, co-founder of Immigrant Defenders Law Center, confirmed that the arrested man is a U.S. citizen. The law center was contacted by community members seeking assistance in reuniting the father and daughter. However, they cannot officially represent him as he is a citizen.
“It was a dangerous act to have armed men get in a car with that child and remove her from the situation,” Toczylowski stated. Fortunately, family members later picked up the child from federal offices in Los Angeles. They should have followed protocols that had the best interest of that child in mind,” she added.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has yet to clarify why the agents took the father's car or included the child in this operation.
According to a spokesperson, the father was arrested under suspicion of assault following an incident where he allegedly confronted Border Patrol agents with a hammer and threw rocks at them as they executed the raid. During the operation, five migrants were also arrested for suspected immigration violations.
The whereabouts of the father remained unknown over 24 hours after his arrest, raising concerns for the family. The child’s grandmother, Maria, reported receiving a call to pick up the girl at Border Patrol offices, confirming that the child was safe but missing her father. Maria declined to provide her last name to maintain her granddaughter's confidentiality.
Describing the incident, Maria expressed her fears: It’s something very frightening. You don’t know who those people are.”
