{"id":142321,"date":"2026-01-21T00:29:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T00:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/142321\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T00:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T00:29:07","slug":"immigration-agents-chase-down-gardeners-working-on-lawns-in-east-long-beach-long-beach-post-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/142321\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigration agents chase down gardeners working on lawns in East Long Beach \u2022 Long Beach Post News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal agents wearing U.S. Border Patrol vests seized two men working as gardeners in a cul-de-sac in Long Beach\u2019s University Park Estates neighborhood.<\/p>\n

At approximately 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, according to neighbors, three employees of a gardening company had just started working when multiple black vehicles pulled into the street, blocking traffic and preventing the workers, as well as a city garbage truck, from leaving.<\/p>\n

The driver of the garbage truck began honking, alerting the gardeners to the agents\u2019 presence. One gardener put down his lawn equipment as federal agents handcuffed him and led him into the back of a Ford Expedition, according to neighbors and a video verified by the Long Beach Post.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A gardener puts down his tools as Border Patrol officers take him in front of a home near Eliot Street and Silvera Avenue in Long Beach on Jan. 20, 2026. Photo from a video screenshot.<\/p>\n

Another gardener attempted to scale a nearby wall, but a group of armed agents, most of them masked, chased him, hauling him through the street and toward the van.<\/p>\n

Agents asked the man for his documents, and he produced an identification card and said he was born at Memorial, referring to MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center, and that he is a dual citizen. One agent said he would investigate that. Yet, five agents handcuffed him and placed him in the back of the car as an onlooker shouted, \u201cFive guys for one guy?\u201d adding, \u201cI\u2019m pretty sure he pays taxes, just like you and me.\u201d<\/p>\n

One federal agent told the onlooker that he was \u201cbeing recorded\u201d and that the agents were going to \u201creport it to [his] station.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another bystander asked the agents, \u201cDo you guys feel like Nazis yet?\u201d as they loaded up the car and drove off.<\/p>\n

Neighbors told the Post that a third man who worked for the gardening company had been present, but when agents asked if he had papers, he said yes and agents did not arrest him. Neighbors also said it appeared the federal agents had been planning to arrest these men in particular and that it was a \u201cquick, methodical\u201d operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought it would ever happen here,\u201d said one neighbor who agreed to speak on the condition that he not be named. The neighbor pointed out that ICE has been active at car washes, large stores and local businesses in the Long Beach area. \u201cNow they\u2019re stooping to the lowest level: picking people up off the street,\u201d the neighbor said of the federal agents.<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federal agents wearing U.S. Border Patrol vests seized two men working as gardeners in a cul-de-sac in Long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-142321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-long-beach","9":"tag-long-beach-headlines","10":"tag-long-beach-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142321","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=142321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}