LOS ANGELES—In a scene straight out of a parent’s worst nightmare, armed and masked federal agents detained a 32-year-old U.S. citizen outside a Home Depot in Cypress Park on Tuesday, then hopped into his car and drove off—with his 1-year-old daughter still buckled into her car seat in the back.

The harrowing incident, captured on bystander video and shared widely on social media, has ignited a firestorm of criticism against Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s increasingly aggressive tactics, coming just as a new court filing in Chicago accuses federal officials of fabricating evidence to justify excessive force in immigration sweeps.

The father, whose name has not been publicly released, was arrested during what the Department of Homeland Security described as a “targeted immigration enforcement operation” in the bustling parking lot.

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Footage shows agents in black balaclavas and tactical gear swarming the area in unmarked vehicles, detaining several individuals.

As the man is led away to a white van, two masked officers climb into his sedan. One tosses a beach ball toward the toddler, who sits silently with it pressed against her face for over two minutes before the agents finally drive away.

Onlookers can be heard shouting in protest as the car disappears down the street. The child, who turns 2 next month, was eventually reunited with relatives after family members received a call directing them to pick her up at a federal building downtown.

Her grandmother, Maria Avalos, told the Los Angeles Times that while her son “wasn’t an angel,” the agents’ actions were inexcusable.

“They shouldn’t have driven off with her granddaughter like that,” Avalos said. Lindsay Toczylowski, an attorney with the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, echoed the sentiment, telling the Times the episode left the family “obviously traumatized.”

“The fact that they were getting into that car, heavily armed, with masks on their face—they put that toddler in extreme danger,” she said.

DHS’s Side of the Story

DHS pushed back in a statement to the Times, claiming the man “exited his vehicle wielding a hammer and threw rocks at law enforcement while he had a child in his car.”

Agents reportedly found a pistol in the vehicle, described as “reported stolen out of the state of New York,” along with an active warrant for property damage.

The operation, which spilled over into a nearby day-laborer center after agents cut through a chain-link gate, resulted in five arrests of undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala, according to Border Patrol.

Those individuals had prior offenses including DUIs, driving without a license, and previous removals.

California Governor Newsom’s Statements on the Matter

California Gov. Gavin Newsom decried the raid as “a disgusting display of authoritarianism,” pointing to the deployment of over 100 ICE and Border Patrol officers in the area.

In a post on X, he wrote: “He [Trump] has folks dressed up in tactical gear… to intimidate and chill free expression, free speech, to intimidate voters.”

The timing—on the eve of Election Day—drew particular ire, with dozens more agents reportedly massing outside Dodger Stadium, fresh off the team’s second straight World Series win.

Stories Americans Need to Be Aware Of

This isn’t an isolated horror story. Across the country, ICE’s ramped-up enforcement under the Trump administration has led to a string of disturbing encounters involving U.S. citizens and bystanders, often featuring masked agents in plainclothes and unmarked vehicles.

In Chicago, part of the so-called “Midway Blitz” operation targeting “criminal illegal aliens” in sanctuary cities, federal agents rappelled from Black Hawk helicopters and stormed South Side apartments in moving vans last month, netting 37 arrests but also sweeping up an American citizen with a local warrant and four U.S. citizen children of immigrants.

The kids were briefly held “to be put in the care of a safe guardian or the state,” DHS said, while reports described naked residents being dragged outside in the pre-dawn chaos.

In a separate Chicago incident on Oct. 23, video showed masked agents detaining Dayanne Figueroa, a U.S. citizen and paralegal, after a minor traffic accident.

Figueroa described being “terrified” as agents refused to identify themselves, an account that resurfaced amid the blitz’s scrutiny.

Just days earlier, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem insisted at a Gary, Indiana, news conference that “no U.S. citizens had been detained” in the operations—a claim contradicted by court filings, videos, and DHS’s own reports.

Out west, the pattern holds. In Hawthorne, California, pregnant U.S. citizen Cary López Alvarado was detained during a raid after allegedly “obstructing” agents by blocking access to a car with two Guatemalan nationals inside; she was released the same day.

In Los Angeles proper, 25-year-old Carlos Jimenez was shot in the back of the shoulder by an ICE agent while trying to warn them about nearby schoolchildren during a street stop, his lawyers say.

Jimenez had pulled over to alert the agents that kids were gathering close by, only to reverse his vehicle and take fire.

Federal officials called it self-defense, but attorney Cynthia Santiago told Eyewitness News: “He was telling them, ‘Excuse me. Can you guys please wrap this up.’ And immediately, the masked agent pulls out a gun.”

Even journalists aren’t spared. In a Chicago suburb, 18-year-old U.S. citizen Evelyn was thrown to the ground and had a knee pressed to her neck by a masked officer for filming a raid, according to footage shared by Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi.

“Silencing citizens betrays the trust these agencies are meant to protect,” Krishnamoorthi posted on X.

In another case, masked ICE agents arrested Los Angeles resident Andrea Velez, a U.S. citizen, on her way to work in June, with her family calling it a straight-up “kidnapping.”

Velez was dropped off by her mother and sister when agents grabbed her and sped away in an unmarked car.

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The Real Statistics Americans Need to Know

These episodes have experts drawing parallels to the 1950s “Operation Wetback,” a mass deportation program under President Eisenhower known for its brutality.

Jean Reisz, co-director of the USC Immigration Clinic, told CNN that the current tactics—masks for all but the most dangerous operations, aggressive sweeps at worksites like Home Depots—echo that era’s overreach.

More than 75% of those booked into ICE custody this fiscal year had no criminal convictions beyond immigration or traffic violations, per ICE data.

A Court Filing Raises Govt. Credibility Concerns Following Perjury from Border Patrol Commander

Adding fuel to the fire, a court filing unsealed Wednesday in Chicago’s U.S. District Court has thrown ICE and DHS’s credibility into sharp relief.

In a civil rights lawsuit over the Midway Blitz, plaintiffs—including the Chicago Headline Club and civil rights groups—allege Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, a 29-year veteran, fabricated a story about being struck in the head by a rock to justify deploying tear gas on protesters in Little Village on Oct. 23.

The motion, filed before Judge Sara L. Ellis, reviewed body-cam and drone footage from DHS and found zero evidence of the rock.

“The government, defendant DHS, and defendant Bovino initially justified Bovino’s use of tear gas… by asserting that Bovino deployed tear gas only after he was hit in the head by a rock…. But it turned out the justification was a fabrication,” the filing states.

It goes further, accusing Bovino of perjury for sticking to the tale under oath during a grueling deposition.

“Defendant DHS and defendant Bovino have made up a false story to justify misconduct. Defendant Bovino has lied under oath about this issue. This court should doubt defendants’ credibility as a result,” the document urges, potentially paving the way for nationwide limits on federal crowd-control tactics.

Bovino, during his testimony, called protesters “violent rioters” and boasted, “If I had more CS gas, I would have deployed it.” Body-cam audio captured an agent quipping, “Hey, throw it for fun,” as canisters flew toward a “vocal but nonviolent crowd.”

Plaintiffs’ attorney Steve Art, of Loevy & Loevy, put it bluntly in court: “He just made it up.” Another lawyer added: “This isn’t about politics; it’s about whether the government can lie to cover its tracks.”

DHS has defied court orders by submitting curated social media clips instead of unedited footage, and Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin has faced heat for misleading X posts—like claiming a woman “rammed” an agent’s vehicle, only for her to be released without charges.

Former Obama aide Tommy Vietor slammed McLaughlin as standing out “even in an administration filled with bulls–t artists and liars” for her “least credible” track record.

A Shattering of “Sense of Safety”

The filing’s bombshell comes amid two deaths tied to raids: a Mexican farmworker who fell from a greenhouse and a Guatemalan day laborer struck by a car.

Judge Ellis, who issued a temporary restraining order in October barring chemical agents against non-threatening protesters without warnings, described one gassing near a kids’ Halloween parade as shattering the neighborhood’s “sense of safety.”

A preliminary injunction hearing wrapped up today, where Bovino’s full testimony could be dissected.

As these stories pile up—from toddlers in commandeered cars to tear gas lobbed at schools—the trust in ICE and DHS is fraying at the edges.

Civil rights advocates argue the masked anonymity isn’t just for agent safety; it’s eroding accountability.

In Philadelphia and North Carolina, civilians have even impersonated ICE officers, exploiting the confusion to commit crimes like robbery and sexual assault.

Experts warn that federal agents’ shift to masks and casual gear—historically reserved for undercover work or high-risk takedowns—only amplifies the peril.

For families like Avalos’s, the damage is already done. “No one is safe,” one Chicago resident told USA Today after her citizen relatives were swept up.

In a nation priding itself on due process, these raids are testing just how far the enforcement net can stretch before it snaps.

Also Read: A DOJ Whistleblower Now Makes Revelation That Undermines the Judicial System’s Integrity

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