Armed federal agents in black balaclavas climbed into the car of a U.S. citizen they had detained and drove off with his toddler still strapped into her carseat in the back.
The father, 32, had been arrested during a “targeted immigration enforcement operation” at a Home Depot as agents in unmarked vehicles swarmed the parking lot in Cypress Park, Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reports.
In a video posted on social media, two armed and masked officers can be seen getting into the man’s car, with the child clearly visible in the back seat. One of them then throws a beachball toward the 1-year-old.
The Border Patrol agents then left the child sitting with the ball in her face for more than two minutes as her father was dragged off to a white van and detained.
With the arrest completed, the masked men then drove the toddler away as onlookers shouted in protest.
The child’s grandmother, Maria Avalos, 50, told the Los Angeles Times that her son wasn’t an “angel,” but that agents “shouldn’t have driven off” with her granddaughter.
The toddler—who turns 2 in January—was later reunited with family.
Lindsay Toczylowski, of Immigrant Defenders Law Center, told the paper, “The fact that they were getting into that car, heavily armed, with masks on their face, they put that toddler in extreme danger.”
Toczylowski said the toddler’s family received a call instructing them to collect the child at the federal building downtown. “The family is obviously traumatized,” she added.
A DHS spokesperson told the Times that the man “exited his vehicle wielding a hammer and threw rocks at law enforcement while he had a child in his car.” During the arrest, the spokesperson said, agents found a pistol in the vehicle that was “reported stolen out of the state of New York,” and the man had an “active warrant for property damage.”
Community groups said the Cypress Park Home Depot raid spilled into an adjacent day-laborer center after agents cut a chain at the gate. The site coordinator—a U.S. citizen—was reportedly thrown to the ground and suffered a fractured wrist.
Border Patrol said the operation led to five arrests of undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala, citing past offenses including DUI, driving without a license, and prior removals.
The Cypress Park raid came amid a larger Election Day deployment. Dozens of federal agents massed outside Dodger Stadium, according to the Times, a day after the team came home from winning its second straight World Series.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, 58, called the show of force “a disgusting display of authoritarianism,” saying “masked men” were sent to intimidate. “He [Trump] has folks dressed up in tactical gear, ICE and Border Patrol, hundred plus officers in LA as I speak, to intimidate and chill free expression, free speech, to intimidate voters,” Newsom said on X.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have previously faced pressure over federal agents staging near the ballpark. In June, the club pledged $1 million to support families affected by immigration raids after agents were seen near stadium lots.
The Daily Beast has contacted DHS for comment.
The post Masked Federal Agents Drive Off in U.S. Citizen’s Car With Toddler in Backseat appeared first on The Daily Beast.
