Immigration Agents Arrest Dad, Drive Off With 1-Year-Old

Federal immigration officers in Los Angeles are under scrutiny after arresting a U.S. citizen during a raid outside a Home Depot and then driving away in his car with his 1-year-old daughter still strapped in the back seat, according to witnesses and family members.

A video filmed by the Los Angeles Rapid Response Network, an immigrant advocacy coalition, shows the man handcuffed beside his vehicle before being taken away as two armed and masked agents enter the car and drive off. The child, visible in a blurred portion of the footage, remains in her car seat as bystanders shout, “There’s a baby in the back!”

“This was a dangerous and reckless act—armed agents should never have taken control of a vehicle with a small child inside,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, co-founder of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center. Her organization helped coordinate the child’s safe return to relatives later that day but is not representing the man, who is an American citizen.

The man’s mother, Maria, said the family received a call from an unknown number directing them to pick up the toddler at a U.S. Border Patrol office in Los Angeles. “She’s okay, but she keeps asking for her dad,” she said. The man, born in California and employed in the restaurant industry, had not been located as of Wednesday evening.

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said the man exited his vehicle wielding a hammer and throwing rocks as Border Patrol agents conducted an operation nearby. He was arrested on suspicion of assault, and officials said a stolen firearm from New York was later found in his car. DHS did not respond to questions about why agents drove the vehicle—with the child inside—away from the scene.

Five other individuals were detained during the operation on suspected immigration violations.

President Trump’s administration has not commented publicly on the incident.

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