By Nick Valencia
LOS ANGELES — It looked less like law enforcement and more like a battlefield. Unmarked Border Patrol trucks boxed in the parking lot. Tactical units swarmed the storefront. Shoppers froze. Then came the takedown.
According to surveillance footage, 20-year-old Adrian Andrew Martinez, an American citizen, tried to intervene when federal agents confronted a maintenance worker outside a Walmart in Pico Rivera. He pushed a trash bin in front of one of the trucks, as if to stall the arrest. Seconds later, agents tackled him to the pavement and eventually took him into custody.
ICE officials say they may pursue charges, accusing Martinez of obstructing a federal operation.
But what’s harder to ignore is the growing number of cases in which U.S. citizens—people with no criminal records—are getting caught up in immigration raids.
Like the man in East LA who pleaded with officers that he was born in the U.S., only to be handcuffed and detained. He was never put in a van. But that wasn’t the point. The point was that it happened at all.
For many, these aren’t isolated mistakes. They feel like warnings.
Americans, Profiled and Taken
What connects these cases isn’t paperwork or record status. It’s skin color. Language. Assumption.
A federal court made that distinction clear in April. A judge issued a sweeping injunction, barring immigration agents from detaining individuals based on appearance alone. “Racial profiling,” the order stated, “is not a legal justification for arrest.” The decision followed years of litigation and documented abuse by immigration enforcement.
Yet raids continue across Southern California. In Latino neighborhoods. At work sites. Outside homes. For many, it appears the court’s ruling never arrived. Or worse, is being deliberately ignored.
This is not theoretical. Since Trump returned to office, ICE arrests of migrants with no criminal history have surged. And American citizens are among those caught in the dragnet.
No Footage. No Proof. No Oversight.
Unlike local police departments, federal immigration officers operate with near-total opacity. There are no nationwide requirements for body-worn cameras. The only videos the public really sees are agency-edited clips.
The rest? It’s up to civilians. Groups like VC Defensa and the 805 Immigrant Coalition have stepped in with smartphones, documenting arrests, shouting names, livestreaming confrontations—creating accountability of the federal government.
“Solo el pueblo salva al pueblo,” they say.
Only the people save the people.
A Quiet Constitutional Crisis
This isn’t just about immigration enforcement. It’s about the erosion of judicial authority. About a federal agency ignoring a judge’s order and daring the courts to stop them.
When agents act outside the law, and citizens are left to defend themselves with phone cameras and birth certificates, the balance of power begins to shift.
When I got home to Eagle Rock on Thursday, my mother handed me a printed copy of my birth certificate. She told me to keep it on me. Just in case.
She wasn’t being dramatic. She was being my Mamá. In a country where right now it seems looking like me can now be a pretext for detention.
Today, this is the country we’re living in.
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