FIEL/Facebook
FIEL Executive Director Cesar Espinosa speaks at a press conference on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.
Arnoldo Bazan, 16, said that on the morning of Oct. 23, his father, Arnulfo Bazan, was driving him to school when unmarked cars with flashing lights pulled them over.
“Me and my dad had nothing to hide,” the Houston teenager said at a news conference Monday. “We were confused, so we just pulled over in a parking lot.”
According to Arnoldo, the two cars then blocked them in, and masked law enforcement officers — whom he claimed did not have identifying badges on their vests — began hitting the windows. Arnoldo said he and his father were scared, so his father decided to drive away.
“That’s when me and my dad went [into] fight or flight,” he said. “He was trying to protect me. That’s what he told me — ‘I’m going to protect you.’ ”
The unmarked cars then followed Arnoldo and his father down Boone Street in Southwest Houston to the Restaurant Depot on Bissonnet Street, where the two got out of the car, according to Arnoldo.
“I ran with my dad, but then they tackled him,” he said. “Three of them jumped on him, but when I saw they started choking, kicking, punching, it’s when I reacted. I just ran to my dad, and a lady, she grabbed my shirt.”
The Montgomery County Processing Center, which is used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told Houston Public Media that Arnulfo Bazan was deported to Mexico on Monday — the same day his son recounted their experience during a news conference organized by FIEL Houston, an immigrant rights nonprofit. The organization reported that Arnulfo was taken to the processing center north of Houston after the Oct. 23 encounter at Restaurant Depot, while Arnoldo said he was returned home after he told the officers he was a minor and U.S. citizen.
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The detention center did not provide further details regarding Arnulfo’s immigration status or why he was deported. A Houston-based ICE spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding the deportation or the Oct. 23 incident involving Arnulfo and his son.
FIEL Houston Executive Director Cesar Espinosa said he fears “more incidents like this can unfold” as federal immigration enforcement ramps up under the administration of President Donald Trump.
“In our beautiful diverse city, we are so worried for our communities and all the families that will be separated and hurt by this administration,” Espinosa said in a statement.
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Arnoldo alleged that the officers who confronted him and his father choked him and took his cell phone. He said he believes his phone was taken because he had used it to film the encounter.
“Then that’s when they tackled me and even though I said I was underage, the dude started choking me more,” Arnoldo said.
A separate video shared online by FIEL appears to show Arnoldo and his father being detained in the entrance of the Restaurant Depot. While Arnoldo said he didn’t see any identifying markings on the officers’ uniforms, the video shows five officers, four of whom had “police” patches on their vests and one who had a “DEA” patch on the back of their vest.
In the video, the person filming the incident can be heard saying, “You’re fixing to break his neck” while pointing the camera at two officers trying to restrain a young man who appears to be Arnoldo. One officer appears to have an arm around the young man’s neck and a hand pressing down on his head.
He can be heard saying, “Record this [expletive], record this [expletive]. They hit our car three times. I have it on video.”