Federal agents arrested multiple people during a raid at a Home Depot in the MacArthur Park area on Wednesday morning.
Around 7 a.m., a Penske van rolled up to 1675 Wilshire Blvd., and a bunch of federal agents jumped out, according to City News Service.
Tony Corello with the L.A. Tenants Union told KNX News’ Karen Adams that agents blocked off part of the parking lot and grabbed whoever they could.
“The most important thing that we saw today is that these people who were kidnapped from this parking lot today…the idea that there's any sort of pause at the moment, because of the temporary restraining order, that there's a pause on these kinds of operations is a total myth,” he said.
The pause Corello is referring to is the Ninth Circuit Court's upholding of the temporary restraining order halting warrantless ICE raids, which happened on Friday.
Corello added that his group can confirm at least seven people were arrested, but others told Karen Adams that the number is much higher than that.
Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli reshared a video of the raid on X and wrote, “For those who thought immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again. The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable, and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.”
Officials with Penske released a statement on X saying they were aware of the incident.
“Penske strictly prohibits the transportation of people in the cargo area of its vehicles under any circumstances,” the statement read. “The company was not made aware that its trucks would be used in today’s operation and did not authorize this. Penske will reach out to DHS and reinforce its policy to avoid improper use of its vehicles in the future.”
During a press conference hours later, Mayor Karen Bass denounced the ICE raids and believes the raid was illegal.
“It's hard for me to believe that that raid was consistent with the court order that said you cannot racially profile, you cannot racially discriminate,” she said. “What I saw on the video, what I saw on the pictures that were sent to me looked like the same guys chasing people through a Home Depot.”
Bass added that video evidence and other information are being assessed by the L.A. City Attorney.
City leaders also reacted to Wednesday’s ICE raids, with some saying this was the second one this week. Council member Eunisses Hernandez, who represents the district where the raid happened, told KNX News’ Craig Fiegener she's unsure what more L.A. can do to enforce the restraining order.
“This is essentially against the TRO that has been established that is supposed to be preventing indiscriminate raids like this from happening in our city,” she said.
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