Adrian Martinez, a 20-year-old Walmart employee, was returning from a break on Tuesday when he noticed Border Patrol agents taking a worker cleaning the shopping centre parking lot in Pico Rivera. He jumped out of the car and wheeled the man’s trash can in front of it as other drivers gathered around the truck, yelling and blaring horns.
Surveillance and spectator video captured at the scene and shared on social media shows an agent rushing Martinez and shoving him to the ground. He gets back up, there is more shoving, and he exchanges angry words with a masked officer wielding a rifle before other agents swarm him and push him back down, dragging him to their truck.
“What is he doing?” “He’s a f— hard worker,” Martinez yells as more agents arrive, some in plain clothes, shoving and arresting him.
L.A.’s top prosecutor, Bill Essayli, wrote on X that Martinez “was arrested for an allegation of punching a border patrol agent in the face after he attempted to impede their immigration enforcement operation.”
The alleged punch was not clearly visible in video footage. As the agents shove Martinez into the car, someone shouts, “He’s a US citizen, bro.” In the videos of the confrontation, an agent is seen and heard cocking a gun while others struggle with Martinez.
Martinez is one of a few American citizens arrested or detained by immigration officers in the last two weeks who have received widespread attention.
Earlier this month, Essayli charged union leader David Huerta with conspiracy to obstruct an officer following an encounter during a raid in downtown LA. A pregnant woman in Torrance was detained after she stood between agents and the car carrying her husband. Last week, Border Patrol agents arrested Javier Ramirez, a United States citizen working at a tow yard, less than three miles from Tuesday’s incident in Montebello. They also detained and questioned Brian Gavidia, a US citizen, pushing him up against a fence while asking him which hospital he was born in.
The confrontations have heightened tensions in the largely Latino enclaves of Los Angeles County, where federal agents are conducting the majority of the raids. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement and US Customs and Border Protection, has stated that its officers are increasingly under threat while enforcing laws.
Many members of the community believe that pushing back is a moral imperative.
Martinez’s mother, Myra Villareal, said she wasn’t surprised that her son tried to help. He frequently brings in stray animals that need a home.
“If someone gets hurt, he wants to be the first one there,” said his sister Samantha Villareal.
“I want justice for him,” his mother added. “What happened to him is unacceptable. He did nothing wrong. I thought he was speaking up. Everyone has the right to speak. “You know, free speech.”
She claimed she couldn’t find Martinez for hours following his arrest. Around midnight, she confirmed that he was being detained downtown. She spoke to him Wednesday afternoon.
Customs and Border Protection told The Times that videos “are missing critical moments and don’t tell the whole story.”
Border Patrol agents on “roving patrols” were “confronted by a hostile group that attempted to interfere with their duties” while arresting an undocumented immigrant at a Lowe’s store in the same plaza, according to the statement.
