Neighbors are concerned after a Southern California man said his two gardeners were reportedly taken by federal immigration agents as they were working outside his home.
On Thursday morning, Christopher Ames said his gardeners were mowing the lawn outside his house on Fifth Street and Boulder Avenue in Ontario.
His neighbors, who had witnessed the men being taken into custody, quickly alerted him to the incident.
“They left the lawnmower running right here on the front lawn,” Ames said. “They threw my gardeners’ phones in their car, with the car keys, left everything open and just took off.”
Neighbors who learned of the arrests said they were a bit stunned.
“I just think that’s wrong,” Ames told KTLA’s Sandra Mitchell. “This is not the way we treat people and this is not the way this country should be acting.”
Late Thursday night, one of the gardeners’ family members, a man named Luis, arrived at the Ontario house to drive the work truck back home.
Luis said the two men were reportedly taken by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and they have not been able to contact them.
“They were my family and we’re living in fear,” he said.
A neighbor named Rose said she watched the arrests from her home across the street.
“I understand people are just doing their jobs and people are here illegally,” she said. “I get the entire picture. But to be scooped up in such a way, I just hope that they had the opportunity to reach out to their families.”
With the men’s cellphones left behind, Rose said she is concerned they would have no way to contact loved ones to let them know of their detainment, leaving them in distress.
“As a mom and a wife, if I’m expecting someone to come home and they don’t come home and I have no way of reaching them or finding them, that’s the scary part,” she said.
Family members said they have no idea where the two men might be held and are hoping to contact them soon.
Although authorities did not comment on the gardeners’ specific case, the Ontario Police Department confirmed to KTLA that ICE agents had conducted operations in Ontario Thursday morning.
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