With a Department of Homeland Security helicopter circling, several dozens of heavily armed, masked ICE agents dressed in military tactical gear raided one of the most popular swaps meets in Southern California, which caters to a predominantly Latino crowd, over the weekend.
The incident, according to video of the event captured by photojournalists with OnScene.TV, unfolded Saturday at around 3:30 p.m. at the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet at 13963 Alondra Blvd.
KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo reports that the sight of ICE agents sent many vendors and customers running, in attempt to escape the raid.
An estimated 60 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were seen on the flea market grounds, which also houses a music venue.
Some onlookers are seen filming the raid on their cellphones while federal authorities moved through the crowd.
It’s unclear if federal officials expected to detain a lot of individuals at the event, but despite their large numbers, only two people, a woman and a man, the latter who told an onlooker he’s Colombian, were seen in handcuffs as they were escorted away.
Other unconfirmed reports suggest that at least a handful of arrests were made. KTLA has reached out to DHS and is awaiting a response.
“ICE comes in and raids the whole place,” Aracely Lopez, a vendor at the open-air market, said. “All the entrances were wide open. There was a helicopter circling the premises. They were dragging people out of the bathrooms. They went into all the spaces asking for everyone’s identification.”
Lopez lamented the raid, adding that these are all just hardworking people and that her grandmother and parents are afraid to come to work at the swap meet, which is their main source of income.
“They’re scared to come to work,” she said. “I don’t think they’re going to come for the next few months.”
The Santa Fe Springs raid comes on the heels of raids in other areas of Los Angeles County.
On June 11, ICE agents arrested a man at a Downey church, prompting an outcry from community and religious leaders. Just a day later, a Huntington Park family’s home was raided by agents as DHS Secretary Kristi Noem looked on from the street.
The target of the search, David Garcia, an undocumented man with a criminal record, according to ICE, was not home. His pregnant wife and four children all, U.S. citizens, were forced out of the house while armed agents searched the residence room by room.
The ongoing ICE raids have prompted more than a week of protests throughout areas of L.A., particularly downtown, with the Los Angeles Police Department reporting some 561 arrests since anti-ICS demonstrations erupted on June 7.
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