Authorities said he was attacked and killed on a Southern California highway on Thursday while fleeing an immigrant raid at Home Depot.
Dylan Fake, mayor of Monrovia in Los Angeles County, about 10 miles northeast of Pasadena, said officers saw the attack after officers received a call about US immigration and customs enforcement activities in the area.
During the activity, someone drove onto the 210 highway, he said. Shortly afterwards, the fire department and paramedics responded to the call of vehicles hitting pedestrians.
The person was taken to hospital and died of injuries in the incident, Fake said.
The California Highway Patrol said the victim was a man and the circumstances surrounding his death are under investigation. His identity has not been disclosed.
After the accident, the video recorded shows a man wearing a black t-shirt lying near the inner lane of the highway.
Vincent Enriquez, who recorded the video, said he initially thought it was a motorcycle accident.
“I was confused about how he was lying on the highway,” he said. “I thought he must have been attacked by a car trying to cross, or he must have left the car from a car accident.”
The Department of Homeland Security denied that the agent pursued the person and said it didn’t know what a person’s legal status.
“This individual was not pursued by DHS law enforcement,” the spokesman said in a statement. “We were not aware of the incident or were notified by the California Highway Patrol.
Feik said the city has no additional information on the operation, including the possibility of detention, and Monrovia has not received communication from the ice.
Palmira Figueroa, a spokesman for the National Day Workers Organization Network, said 13 workers were detained during the attack. “It was a violent, aggressive bust,” she said. “Some of them were chasing workers in their cars while they were running away.”
The network organizer is trying to contact the family, just like other men in custody, Figueroa said.
Videos posted on social media appear to show agents detaining people in the parking lot at Home Depot.
John Halabedian, a state legislator for the district, including Manrovia, said in a statement in his Instagram story that 10 people were detained in the attack.
“Staff like this should not make our city safer. They terrify our families, instill fear, put our lives at risk,” he said.
Immigration officers are focusing many of the attacks on Home Depot and other home improvement retailers, where workers on the day are known to be frequently known.
On Tuesday, the Enforcement Removal Operations Agent carried out a “Target Enforcement Operation” at Home Depot in Washington, D.C., as part of a broader crackdown on immigrants and homeless people in the city.
The Court of Appeals maintained a temporary restraining order from a federal judge of Los Angeles this month. This maintained its presence in certain places, forbidden or as the sole pretext to restrain immigrants from using people’s spoken language and jobs, like Day workers.
