{"id":103308,"date":"2025-12-21T02:55:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T02:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/103308\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T02:55:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T02:55:15","slug":"how-turn-and-burn-immigration-operations-unleash-chaos-and-sweep-up-u-s-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/103308\/","title":{"rendered":"How \u2018Turn and Burn\u2019 Immigration Operations Unleash Chaos \u2014 and Sweep up U.S. Citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-8hvvyd\">It\u2019s just after 6 a.m. on Flower Street. Amid the morning calm, a security camera captures a SWAT team moving in formation. Operators in tactical gear carry ladders into the backyard. Another group enters the front and attaches strips of explosives along the windows and door. Inside, Jenny Ramirez and her two kids are sleeping when her phone rings. It\u2019s a neighbor calling. \u201cJenny, Jenny, Jenny, wake up, wake up. I see a lot of police in front of your house. Are you OK? Get up.\u201d Out front an armored vehicle pulls up. It\u2019s carrying a K-9 team, a photographer and a drone operator. At the end of the convoy is a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle. These are federal immigration agents at the home of U.S. citizens And they\u2019re ordering them to exit immediately. Agents wait 14 seconds, then blow out the bedroom window. \u201cMy 6-year-old started screaming, \u2018We\u2019re here, we\u2019re here, we\u2019re OK, we\u2019re OK.\u2019 But he wasn\u2019t understanding. It wasn\u2019t, like, something that happened to the house and they were coming to help us. I told him, \u2018They\u2019re not helping us.\u2019\u201d The second explosion blows off the front door. We wanted to understand what prompted this show of force and use of manpower. These high-risk tactics, according to current and former federal officials, are typically used for drug smugglers and violent fugitives, not by immigration agents trying to arrest a U.S. citizen accused of \u201cinjuring government property.\u201d Who it turns out isn\u2019t even home. But a closer look at the footage shows the man behind this raid is on scene watching. This is Greg Bovino. \u266b \u201cAllow me to reintroduce myself. My name is \u2014 \u201d \u266b He\u2019s the Border Patrol chief who\u2019s become a key figure and social media fixture in the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown and slick video campaign. Bovino\u2019s rolled out cavalry in Los Angeles, boat patrols in Chicago, strip mall sweeps in Charlotte. Injecting Border Patrol tactics into areas nowhere near the border and sending agents trained to patrol vast deserts for border crossers into busy urban communities to round up unprecedented numbers of potential deportees. \u201cThis is how and why we secure the homeland.\u201d Bovino\u2019s playbook is a stark departure from ICE, a separate arm of Homeland Security that\u2019s historically conducted more methodical, time-consuming investigations of individual targets. \u201cOn behalf of the men and women of the United States Border Patrol, it\u2019s time to turn and burn. We\u2019re turning and burning onto that next target.\u201d \u201cTurn-and-burn\u201d isn\u2019t showboating, Bovino says, it\u2019s using fast-moving shows of force to deter criminals and keep agents from getting bogged down by agitators so they can enforce laws that he says have been neglected for decades. \u201cWe\u2019re here and we\u2019re not going anywhere.\u201d The messaging from the administration has been clear. Bovino and his aggressive approach are delivering the deportations President Trump promised and keeping Americans safe. But we took a deeper look at one of the operations featured on Bovino\u2019s timeline. This raid on Flower Street and the events that led up to it, syncing hours of video and audio from CCTV, social media and a trove of never-before-seen police body cameras. We found behind Bovino\u2019s social media hype about law and order lies an entirely different story about his turn-and-burn playbook and the spiral of consequences that it unleashes. The backstory of the raid at Jenny Ramirez\u2019s house began a week earlier. An immigration operation at two nearby car washes that seized a handful of potential deportees. But it also led to four vehicle crashes, hours of protests and violent clashes with federal agents, and emergency responses by six local police forces. \u201cCan you get us additional units from East L.A., please?\u201d \u201cWe got to get this crowd out of here.\u201d By day\u2019s end, four U.S. citizens with no prior records of violence were facing allegations of federal felonies. \u201cI just feel like they\u2019re trying to frame me as a criminal.\u201d \u201cIf you jump in front of a vehicle \u2014\u201d \u201cI was never charged. I was never read my rights.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019re U.S. citizens.\u201d \u201cI felt like we were in the wrong place at the wrong time.\u201d On June 20th, across the heavily Latino suburbs southeast of Los Angeles, reports of immigration agents and angry backlash were becoming a routine part of daily life. \u201cAre these [expletive] guys for one man? So crazy. Be [expletive] ashamed of yourselves.\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s your badge number actually?\u201d \u201cHe\u2019s got 45, 30.\u201d \u201cLeave him alone, [expletive]. Leave him alone.\u201d Among the locations targeted was in the city of Bell, a local business here along the main drag, Jack\u2019s Car Wash. It was like any other busy Friday afternoon until around 2:40 p.m., when footage shows seven seemingly ordinary vehicles begin to stream in. At least 16 people would emerge. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of people for the car wash.\u201d One worker who didn\u2019t want to be identified for fear of retribution told The Times he thought the cars pulling in wanted a wash. \u201cI was like, Oh, it\u2019s probably a customer. But when they came out, they had these vests and, like, ski masks and sunglasses on, so you couldn\u2019t identify who it was.\u201d Most are Border Patrol agents, and according to a memo obtained by The Times, they\u2019ve come prepared for elevated security risks. Workers said agents seem to approach everyone as a suspect but ask just two questions. \u201cHe asked, \u2018Are you a citizen? Are you from here?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yes.\u2019 And he said, \u2018Oh, where were you born at?\u2019 I said, \u2018Bellflower, California.\u2019 He left right away.\u201d The agents clearly spark fear for one customer who runs into the drive-through. Then a worker dashes off in the opposite direction. Agents sprint after the runners as new ones arrive to assist and search for more suspects. Meanwhile, in the restaurant parking lot next to Jack\u2019s are Jenny Ramirez and her partner, Jorge, who had just delivered an order for Uber Eats. They\u2019re in their Jeep eating a quick lunch while the baby naps, she says, when they notice a man sitting in a parked SUV. \u201cAnd I\u2019m like, Maybe they\u2019re just waiting like us for orders. And then when I just, like, saw what looked like a rifle, I told him, \u2018Let\u2019s go, let\u2019s go, let\u2019s go.\u2019\u201d When Jorge goes, he turns right, away from the car wash. But now his black Jeep is driving into a high-speed pursuit. This blue pickup is an unmarked Border Patrol vehicle chasing the fleeing car wash worker, who, according to this driver\u2019s video, synchronized with CCTV footage, runs right in front of Jorge\u2019s Jeep. \u201cWe were, like, so close to, like, running him over, and then we see this blue truck trying to ram us on my side. I just thought it was road rage at that point because the vehicles are not marked or anything.\u201d But then the pickup suddenly stops to let an agent jump out. It gets rear-ended by Jorge\u2019s Jeep. Immediately, masked agents emerge with weapons drawn. \u201cThey jumped out and they were going towards us and we didn\u2019t even have anything to do with it. We were just trying to get away from that place.\u201d Jorge tries to back away, but his bumper is hooked on to the pickup, and both vehicles surge backward, right into a gray vehicle behind them. \u201cThis guy is crazy. Meanwhile, about five minutes away in the neighboring town of Maywood, at Xpress Fleet Wash, another turn-and-burn operation is about to unfold. Driving nearby on his way to work is Edgardo Urias, a 19-year-old college student. His dash camera shows a blue SUV on his left, veering into his lane and cutting him off. \u201cThere\u2019s no signal no anything, and I just thought, like, regular L.A. drivers.\u201d But then the SUV suddenly stops in a busy lane of traffic, and the back door flies open. The impact sends Edgardo\u2019s side mirror flying through his window. \u201cWhat was that, bro? What the [expletive]?\u201d No one in the SUV appears to acknowledge the collision. Two men in ballistic vests scramble out to the drying area. Other agents who hang back to dislodge their car door ignore Edgardo. \u201cI see that this is, like, a suspected ICE raid. Like, I\u2019m still not going to leave without an insurance because that could be, like, still to hit and run on me. And then I also have my car messed up.\u201d For nearly two minutes, Edgardo, who seems free to leave, snaps photos and pleads for insurance. But then, after taking down a passerby who flees into traffic, agents abruptly turn their sights on Edgardo. \u201cI\u2019m just confused what\u2019s going on.\u201d \u201cWhy are they arresting me after they caused an accident?\u201d Back at Jack\u2019s car wash, a worker in green named Manuel is getting questioned and detained. \u201cLeave them alone! They\u2019re just working. They\u2019re just working, bro.\u201d Across the lot, a worker in white is looking on. Jose Cervantes Licia is a longtime employee of Jack\u2019s who appears increasingly agitated watching the raid unfold. Suddenly, he charges toward the agent leading Manuel away. A scuffle breaks out. Then a silver pickup flies across oncoming traffic. \u201cOh, my god!\u201d And rams into an unmarked federal vehicle. Manuel gets loose. Jose gets chased. Both get caught and cuffed. At the same time, up the street from Jack\u2019s \u2014 \u201cHey, put the guns away\u201d \u2014 Jenny and Jorge\u2019s Jeep is still hooked to the pickup, and they\u2019re sitting inside, terrified the masked agents are trying to take Jorge into custody. \u201c\u2018Get out of the car, get out of the car.\u2019 Trying to get George out, but they didn\u2019t say who they were. They didn\u2019t say why. We didn\u2019t open the doors, because we were scared. \u201c[Expletive] dogs, man, what the [expletive]?\u201d One agent pulls out a baton. Another fires a pepper ball launcher. \u201cHey, put, they got a family. Put the guns away.\u201d Agents say they\u2019re trying to stop Jorge from fleeing, according to court documents, after what they allege was a deliberate collision to block their pursuit. Former agents told The Times a pursuit on busy city streets for a subject who posed no known threat wasn\u2019t part of Border Patrol training during the previous administration. Most, however, broadly defended this shift to more aggressive enforcement policies, saying it was necessary after decades of lax border enforcement. And Jorge\u2019s driving, according to some of the agents, posed a serious threat given the hostile operating environment. This isn\u2019t the type of policing, or setting, they said, that Border Patrol agents typically handle. \u201cThere\u2019s a [expletive] baby in the car, bro. Put the [expletive] guns away, dude.\u201d At the other car wash in Maywood, no Xpress workers or customers are detained. Bovino\u2019s turn-and-burn playbook appears to be backfiring. \u201cGuys, don\u2019t got nothing else to do, huh?\u201d Once agents move Edgardo into their vehicle, it appears they\u2019re planning to leave. But apparently, there\u2019s uncertainty about what to do with him, according to audio from his dash camera. Instead of getting on the road, agents sit in this Tahoe with Edgardo in front of the car wash for nearly an hour. It\u2019s not clear what they\u2019re waiting for, but Edgardo says agents are making calls requesting help from local law enforcement as the crowd grows and tensions rise. \u201cThey\u2019re saying that this would have never happened if, like, I would have just, like, been on my way, but I was being on my way. I was just trying to go to work.\u201d \u201cYo, what\u2019s your name? Brother, what\u2019s your name?\u201d What\u2019s your name?\u201d Over in Bell, federal backup is flooding in, but none of the heavily armed masked agents can defuse the situation or detach the pickup from Jorge and Jenny\u2019s Jeep. Within minutes, Bell police arrive, wearing body cameras that give a rare behind-the-scenes look at how turn-and-burn tactics escalate a minor accident. And unleash mayhem for local officers who are barred from assisting federal immigration operations but sworn to uphold public safety. \u201cSir, do you guys need paramedics?\u201d Initially, officers try to handle the collision like any other. \u201cCan you tell me what happened?\u201d The Border Patrol agent says the opposite. The Jeep, he says, cut him off. The agent also alleges to police that Jorge might be a repeat offender. \u201cOK.\u201d Federal agents tread lightly, but their requests of local police quickly mount. And once officers get Jenny and Jorge to exit the Jeep \u2014 and a tow truck positioned to unhook the vehicles \u2014 \u201cOK, you guys are good\u201d \u2014 Jenny says they\u2019re told they can go home. \u201cI asked the Border Patrol, too, \u2018Are we free to go?\u2019 He said, \u2018You guys are fine. Go.\u2019\u201d But no one\u2019s going anywhere at this point because the show of force has not deterred but attracted hundreds of onlookers and protesters. And now agents need help getting out. The federal vehicles, they say, must all leave together to protect against attacks. That worst case scenario, it turns out, will unfold minutes later after many failed attempts to move the crowd. \u201cMove out of the street so they can leave.\u201d \u201cHey, can you guys clear the driveway so we can get them out of here?\u201d \u201cCan you just go to the side, please?\u201d The moment that shifts the protests into violence comes when two new federal vehicles arrive. \u201cGo! Hey, hey!\u201d And accelerate toward the crowd. \u201cThey absolutely just tried to run some folks over.\u201d Bystanders erupt at federal agents. \u201cWhat are you doing? You\u2019re [expletive] dumb!\u201d And at local police. The sergeant in charge scrambles. \u201cAll right guys, hey, it\u2019s time to clear out.\u201d To clear an exit path and de-escalate the scene. \u201cCome on, let them out of here, let them get out of here.\u201d But it has the opposite effect. \u201cGet out of here, come on, let them get out of here.\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s your badge number? What\u2019s your badge number?\u201d As the sergeant waves people to cross, this federal vehicle starts rolling toward them. A man bangs on the hood and immediately gets pinned to the ground. The takedown sets off new backlash and a hail of tear gas. \u201cWhat the [expletive]?\u201d \u201cOh, my God.\u201d Local police caught up in the scuffle \u2014 \u201cWatch out, we\u2019re taking [expletive]\u201d \u2014 call for emergency help. \u201cCan you get us additional units from East L.A., please?\u201d \u201cDo you need any mutual aid? 999.\u201d \u201cYou guys almost out of here?\u201d \u201cYeah, two flat tires now, so I don\u2019t know.\u201d It was during these minutes of mayhem that federal agents made the one request that police officers denied. That is not what happened, according to Isa\u00edas Pe\u00f1a Salcedo. \u201cThis is where I was listening to the officer telling us to cross, and that\u2019s when I \u2014 \u201d Isa\u00edas, a 25-year-old construction worker, said he hadn\u2019t come to protest. He\u2019d been headed to a nearby grocery store with his friend\u2019s family and reluctantly agreed to see what was causing the commotion. When violence erupted, he says he was following orders to leave. \u201cI was told by the officer to clear the path. And that\u2019s when the car started rolling into me, and I was like, \u2018Dude, what the heck?\u2019\u201d Not hard enough to put a dent or anything, but just, What are you doing, man? Like, I\u2019m getting told to cross, like, can\u2019t you see?\u201d Being a citizen, he said, didn\u2019t matter. I always carry my passport on me with everything going on. He took my passport, put it right back in my pocket, tossed me into the truck.\u201d \u201cLeave him alone \u2014 he\u2019s a kid.\u201d Before the federal convoys finally leave the scenes in Bell and in Maywood, federal agents deploy more tear gas into a nearby park and into streets filled with local police officers. Federal agents leaving the operations were frustrated, according to Isa\u00edas and Edgardo. \u201cThey were dropping off all the people they caught and they were mad because they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, how much did we get today?\u2019\u201d \u201cThey were just saying that, like, they had one body and that was me, and then some other guys had two bodies.\u201d \u201cThree and they\u2019re all U.S.C.s, like U.S. citizens.\u201d At least one detainee was not a U.S. citizen. Co-workers said Manuel, the car wash employee in green, was deported to Mexico within days. D.H.S. did not respond to questions about the Jack\u2019s customer who fled or the man detained near Xpress Car Wash. But the collateral damage was vast. \u201cYou had the traffic collision, you had the deployment of gas by the federal agents, vandalism against both the federal vehicles and against our vehicle.\u201d Bell police faced days of protests and spent months investigating each act of vandalism. But the chief said his officers were caught off guard, not only by the federal operation, but also by their tactics. \u201cAnytime you move crowds, whether you use less lethal weapons or gas, it has an effect in the surrounding area. It has an effect on the cops. It has an effect on the community. The federal government may have a certain way of handling crowd management, but we as an agency will not drive into crowds.\u201d For each of the four U.S. citizens caught in the dragnet of the day, the fallout was different. For Jose Cervantes Licia, who declined interview requests, it led to home detention and felony charges of assault on a federal officer. The charges were later reduced to a misdemeanor, and Jose accepted a plea deal. Isa\u00edas says he spent almost three days locked up, not allowed to call a lawyer or even his family. \u201cI was never charged. I was never read my rights. I wasn\u2019t even allowed to see the judge. Yeah, OK, if I did this, take me. Don\u2019t just grab me. That\u2019s third-world country stuff.\u201d He said he had no idea if or when he\u2019d get out. \u201cYou\u2019re just in there looking at the ceiling at the white paint. I thought I was gonna be in there for a couple years, so I was already mentally preparing myself.\u201d After 64 hours, Isa\u00edas says he was told they were finally taking him to see a judge, but instead, with no explanation, he was released. \u201cLike, it just messed up my head mentally, like, pretty bad.\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re impeding federal agents. You\u2019re impeding federal agents. You will be arrested.\u201d Edgardo was also never charged. He says during intake he managed to show videos of the collision on his phone to a federal investigator. \u201cHe sent it to his boss. He\u2019s just, like, \u2019Wow.\u2019 He was just, like, apologizing on behalf of the ICE and Border Patrol because they never did, so.\u201d Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol chief, did not respond to our interview request or to specific questions about the tactics used in these operations. Spokespeople with Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection provided a written response, which in part says, \u201cBovino has been instrumental in informing the public\u201d about the \u201crecord-breaking increase in\u201d assault against law enforcement. Agents, it says, \u201cuse the minimum amount of force necessary\u201d in dangerous situations and \u201care highly trained in de-escalation tactics.\u201d The response also says on June 20th, \u201cBorder Patrol vehicles were violently targeted during lawful operations.\u201d In Bell, \u201cone vehicle was rammed and had its tires slashed,\u201d it says. And regarding Edgardo\u2019s collision in Maywood: \u201cA civilian struck a federal vehicle, totaling it.\u201d As for Jorge, he declined our interview requests, but Jenny said he was at work delivering coffee supplies the morning immigration agents exploded their way into their home. \u201cThey called after and they told him, \u2018Did you find out what happened in your house?\u2019 That for me just. That was just not right.\u201d We did not get a response to questions about why federal agents let Jorge go, then, a week later, used such high-risk tactics to arrest him. He immediately turned himself in. Prosecutors didn\u2019t request detention, and a judge sent him home the same day. The Times found no past record of violent offenses. In the federal complaint against Jorge, the prosecutor mentions a previous incident when he allegedly heckled Border Patrol agents. But he\u2019s officially charged with \u201cinjuring government property.\u201d And the crux of the case is the accusation that Jorge deliberately collided with the Border Patrol pickup, which had stopped in a manner that should have allowed any car traveling behind him to stop safely. But this claim is directly contradicted by the agent himself. And the allegation of a deliberate collision is not evident in the footage. In fact, brake lights indicate Jorge is braking as soon as the pickup begins to stop. In mid-July, Bovino posted this ominous video of the raid at Jorge\u2019s house, with text warning people will face justice regardless of their immigration status. The next day, Jorge finds out the federal government has dropped the charges. His case is dismissed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s just after 6 a.m. on Flower Street. Amid the morning calm, a security camera captures a SWAT&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[15662,14,48,52,51,47,50,49,15514,56096,56097],"class_list":["post-103308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-gregory-bovino","tag-immigration","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-us-border-patrol","tag-vis-video","tag-your-feed-visual-investigations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}