U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained another two people in Long Beach on Tuesday, Jan. 20 — including one who may be an American citizen — sparking concern among residents and local government representatives.
Two workers were doing lawn work on homes in East Long Beach, just a few blocks away from Kettering Elementary School, on Tuesday, when federal immigration agents showed up in the neighborhood.
In videos of the incident posted to social media, a group of five federal agents with their faces covered put one man in handcuffs and escorted him to a vehicle. Before the agents put the man inside the vehicle, he tells them, in Spanish, that he is a dual citizen who was born at MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center.
ICE agents detained two men in East Long Beach on Tuesday, Jan. 21. (Photo courtesy lbprotest via Instagram).
ICE agents detained two men in East Long Beach on Tuesday, Jan. 21. (Photo courtesy of Orale).
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ICE agents detained two men in East Long Beach on Tuesday, Jan. 21. (Photo courtesy lbprotest via Instagram).
One agent, in the video, responds that they will investigate that — and detains him anyway.
The immigration status of the other man detained at the same time is unclear.
ICE did not respond to a request for information about the incident on Thursday. But the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly framed ICE’s mission as protecting America from dangerous individuals.
“Every single day,” DHS wrote on social media on Wednesday, “ICE law enforcement officers are risking their lives to arrest murderers, pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and terrorists from American neighborhoods.”
But in Long Beach, those in the area where the two men were detained said that both of them had been doing landscaping in the neighborhood for years.
“This is despicable. These two men were just working as landscapers trying to make an honest living,” Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose district includes Long Beach, said in a Wednesday, Jan. 21 statement. “This happened just blocks from Kettering Elementary and my staff has already heard that there are parents who were too afraid to send their kids to school today. ICE is not making us safer. They are violating people’s rights, racially profiling Latinos, and ripping apart families.”
A representative for Hahn said on Wednesday that her office has been in contact with the family of one of the men who was detained, and have connected them to the Los Angeles County Office of Immigrant Affairs, alongside other legal defense resources. Hahn’s office, though, was not able to confirm whether either of the men were U.S. citizens.
The two men have since been identified online by family members, who created GoFundMe pages requesting donations from the community to support their legal fees. The men are Daniel Granados and Juan Carlos Aguilar Sr., according to the GoFundMe and other social media posts.
Granados, who was wearing a green shirt in the video when ICE agents detained him, was the primary provider for his family, according to the GoFundMe, made by his cousin, Adriana Tapia.
“Daniel’s sudden detention has left his family devastated and uncertain about the future,” Tapia wrote. “He is the main provider for his loved ones, and his absence has created both emotional and financial hardship. We are deeply worried about his well-being while he is in the detention center, and we want to do everything we can to support him and his family during this incredibly difficult time.”
The other man, Aguilar, said he was a dual citizen in the video. His daughter Genesis Aguilar, in a separate GoFundMe, wrote that her father is a hard-working man.
“My father was taken by ICE while working trying to make a living. We must raise funds to secure legal counsel (and) to ensure his basic needs are met while being held captive in the ICE Detention Center,” the younger Aguilar wrote. “He is a hard working man who simply doesn’t have that kind of money. Anything HELPS and will be deeply appreciated and acknowledged.”
Neither GoFundMe post provided details about either man’s immigration status. Family members for the men had not responded to requests for comment as of Thursday, Jan. 22.
Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, meanwhile, also posted a statement to social media on Wednesday addressing the situation, saying the city is seeking more information about the incident.
“Witnesses report that a U.S. citizen may have been detained,” the statement said. “If true, this is extremely serious and demands immediate answers and accountability.”
While the mayor, in a Wednesday, Jan. 21 interview, said he also couldn’t confirm whether either man detained was a U.S. citizen — he said that the city is working with other government offices to find out more.
“What we typically do is coordinate with our local congressional offices. When we hear these things, we send it to them. They have the ability to form an inquiry, and there’s also a database for people to record incidents,” Richardson said. “So we connect, send inquiry to the congressional office, and they kind of take that part on.”
On the city’s end, he added, staffers from the Office of Equity manage legal resources for people impacted by federal immigration raids. In this case, Richardson said, city staffers were able to get in touch with one of the men’s family and connect them with resources.
But in terms of what happens if it’s confirmed that one of the men is a U.S. citizen, Richardson said, the city has its own role to play in holding ICE and other federal agents accountable.
“Congress has the purse strings and and the courts are supposed to protect civil rights, but we as a city have found occasionally there is a role that we have to play with protecting those rights,” Richardson said. “In this specific incident, I think the first step is working collaboratively with our congressional offices and making sure that civil rights and due process were extended — and that there’s a process for people to express their concerns, and for these things to be investigated.”
Still, Richardson acknowledged the frustration many in Long Beach — and across America — are feeling as the Trump administration and U.S. Department of Homeland Security continue ramping up their mass deportation agenda.
The increase in deportation efforts, which has also led to a spike in the number of ICE agents, has led to accusations that, contrary to the administration’s stated mission of deporting criminals, the federal government is conducting broad sweeps of immigrants without confirming legal status, denying people due process and committing acts of unwarranted violence — including against protestors. DHS and the White House have repeatedly denied those accusations, even when video evidence seems to contradict their defense of specific ICE agents.
Locally, the city’s varied and diverse immigrant communities have been subject to countless raids and attacks by ICE and other federal agencies since the Trump administration began acting on its stated mass deportation agenda in the L.A. area in early 2025.
The Trump administration has repeatedly defended the operations, saying they are necessary to make the nation safe, characterizing the people ICE arrests as dangerous criminals. But immigration advocates and officials across Los Angeles County have decried such characterizations, saying ICE is detaining hard-working members of the community — and, in some cases, U.S. citizens.
In Long Beach, San Pedro and the Harbor Area, local community groups and nonprofits stepped up throughout 2025 to defend people they say are being victimized by ICE. Órale, a nonprofit dedicated to advocating for immigrants’ rights and justice, serves as a rapid response organization, and offers legal and other aid to people in need.
Several community patrol groups, including the Harbor Area Peace Patrol, were also created in 2025 to monitor areas that are frequently targets of federal immigration action, report activity, and warn people who could be targeted.
Some community members and advocates for immigrant rights, though, have taken issue with how local government leaders have responded to ICE’s presence in Long Beach — arguing that the city is not doing enough to address the impacts raids are having on the city and its people.
“People are angry about the situation. ICE is in our communities, kidnapping family members, and folks need a place to channel that frustration. I don’t think commenting on Donald Trump’s Instagram page is necessarily going to do the trick — so that means at some at some point, people put their focus on their local government,” Richardson said. “My message is: People need to know their rights. We’re all in this together.”
Richardson noted that the city recently released an updated “Know Your Rights” video and has taken other actions the city has taken before, and since, President Donald Trump took office for his second presidential term — including passing a $5 million budget allocation aimed at bolstering the city’s economic supports for immigrants, strengthening of the Long Beach Values Act, getting involved with legal action against the Trump Administration, and more.
“I get it. People are frustrated. The city is going to do everything we can within our power, but the best thing we can do is know our rights and coordinate together with our other partners (at the) federal level (and) state level,” Richardson said, “so we’re all sort of working together to protect civil rights for our residents.”
Rep. Robert Garcia, Long Beach’s former mayor and current congressman for California’s 42nd district, said in a Thursday, Jan. 22 statement that ICE is “out of control.”
“What’s happening in Long Beach is extremely disturbing,” Garcia said. “DHS and ICE are out of control. Donald Trump’s immigration raids going after gardeners, workers, and our neighbors are horrific and should anger all of us. ICE needs to stay out of our city.”