Six people, including a toddler, were detained during an immigration operation in the parking lot of a Home Depot in the Cypress Park neighborhood of Los Angeles this week, according to activists.
A federal agent drove away with the 1-year-old baby in the backseat of a car Tuesday morning after arresting her father, a U.S. citizen. The man was detained for wielding a hammer and throwing rocks at federal agents, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The arrested man’s mother, Maria, told NBC Los Angeles that her son was taken by masked men.
“My granddaughter remains strapped in her car seat in the back of the vehicle,” Maria said while crying.
Cellphone video captured part of the immigration enforcement operation at the Home Depot parking lot, north of the 5 and 110 freeway interchange.
A man in a grey shirt was seen in the video, being handcuffed outside of his dark-colored Chevy.
Video from a different angle showed what appears to be a physical struggle between the man and three agents around him.
Maria, who declined to give her full name, said the video shows her son, in the grey shirt, was complying.
But the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said he was arrested for assault.
“During the operation, a U.S. citizen exited his vehicle wielding a hammer and threw rocks at law enforcement while he had a child in his car,” the DHS said in a statement. “During his arrest a pistol was found in his car, that is reported stolen out of the state of New York. The individual has an active warrant for property damage.”
Maria said her son asked the agents to wait for a family member to pick up his daughter before being taken away. But video showed two agents got into the car and appeared to conduct a search before driving the car away with the little girl still in the backseat.
“After my son and his daughter were taken, our family received a call from an unknown number. It was the Border Patrol asking me to pick up the granddaughter,” Maria recalled. “We didn’t know what happened to her while she was in their care. And they wouldn’t give us information on when my son would be released or where he was.”
Maria said she picked up the baby girl from the federal building in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday afternoon.
As she tried to figure out what led up to her son’s arrest, Maria said someone in one of the videos said an agent might have bumped the back of his car.
“When I saw the videos, it scared me like them coming through the back and surprising him with his daughter in the car,” Maria said. “It was just an awful feeling. And I think that my son felt the same, not knowing who was behind him.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass addressed the incident at an Election Day watch party Tuesday night while speaking about the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
“There was a raid at a Home Depot, and they separated a family. I don’t know if they realized it or not. But they had a 2-year-old infant in the car that ICE drove away,” Bass said while incorrectly noting the baby’s age. “This is the type of egregious attack that people are experiencing in several cities.”
Maria, also a U.S. citizen, said she’s distraught and feels as though her family is just the latest in a string of people being targeted by federal agents because of the color of their skin.
“My son is a kind, quiet person. He works in the restaurant industry and just got a new job,” Maria talked about her son. “His family is his world. He is the best dad. And his little girl follows him around everywhere he goes. Even though she is safe now, she needs her father and I need my son back. Please free my son now.”
The DHS said during the operation, agents also arrested five undocumented immigration from Mexico and Guatemala with a criminal history, which included DUI, driving without a license and previous removal from the country.
The attorneys for the arrested man, in the meanwhile, said they are evaluating whether ICE agents violated his rights and those of the little girl.