Federal immigration agents handcuffed and briefly detained a 15-year-old student with disabilities outside Arleta High School in Los Angeles in a case of presumed mistaken identity, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) officials said.
The teenager, who has “significant disabilities,” was enrolling at Arleta High School on Monday morning when he was handcuffed by U.S. Border Patrol agents, LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told a press conference on Monday afternoon.
LAUSD and city leaders have now announced an expansion to school “safe zones” and other measures aimed at protecting students and families amid intensified immigration enforcement in the region.
Newsweek has contacted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), LAUSD, Arleta High School, and the Los Angeles mayor’s office via email for comment.
Why It Matters
LAUSD officials said the episode underscored the wider impact of ongoing immigration enforcement on children and families, and they portrayed the district as a frontline protector of students’ ability to safely attend class.
The detention occurred amid a wave of federal enforcement actions across California that critics and local officials say have driven some immigrants into hiding and prompted community-led efforts to shield vulnerable people.
What To Know
The 15-year-old was waiting in a vehicle with his grandmother when he was removed and detained by Border Patrol agents, Carvalho said.
“This young man was placed in handcuffs, presumably based on mistaken identity,” he added. “He was not an adult. He’s a 15-year-old boy with significant disabilities. This cannot happen.”
The boy was released after family members intervened and the principal of Arleta High School called the Los Angeles School Police Department (LASPD). “The release will not release him from what he experienced. The trauma will linger. It will not cease. It is unacceptable,” Carvalho said. He also said federal agents left bullets on the ground, which were collected by school police.
In response, LAUSD said it will expand protective perimeters—”safe zones”—around campuses when school resumes on Thursday, August 14, and will deploy district police, staff and community volunteers to monitor those corridors. The district also said it would adjust bus routes, distribute “family preparedness packs” and provide information about a newly created compassion fund for legal and family assistance.
What People Are Saying
LAUSD Board Member Kelly Gonez said: “Today, unidentified immigration agents handcuffed, detained, and drew their guns on a BD6 student outside Arleta High School in an alleged case of mistaken identity. Such actions — violently detaining a child just outside a public school — are absolutely reprehensible and should have no place in our country.”
Trump previously wrote on Truth Social that ICE “must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, on X: “We need these federal agents off our streets. End the raids NOW.”
What Happens Next
LAUSD said it would staff and monitor expanded safe zones around more than 100 campuses and continue outreach to families, and the district planned to coordinate with LAPD about information-sharing while preserving a commitment that local officers would not assist in immigration enforcement operations.
Local and national debate over the scope and tactics of immigration enforcement was expected to continue, and community groups in Los Angeles had already signaled they would press for additional protections and legal support for families affected by raids.
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