Don Chilaquiles, a food stand located at Amar Road and Sunset Avenue in La Puente, was raided by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Wednesday morning at around 10:35 a.m, according to both an eyewitness and media shared with L.A. TACO.
Video footage shows a federal immigration agent running on the sidewalk towards Don Chilaquiles. Two masked agents can be seen detaining a man in an apron.
The agents, who were wearing masks, took three of the food stand's workers, according to Denise Trujillo, who spoke with the stand’s owner.
Trujillo, a La Puente resident, was driving a route she takes almost daily, heading to the Northgate supermarket, when she saw a woman in an apron run into the street.
“La Migra!” yelled the woman, she says.
She says the woman ran over to a firetruck, where firefighters helped her into their truck. The commotion prompted Trujillo to start recording on her phone.
L.A. TACO reached out to the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which says they received no calls from that area this morning.
Footage shot by Trujillo, posted to Instagram by Siempre Unidos, shows one of the agents place something in a black box and close it after the stand has been cleared of people. He then appears to put it into a vehicle, as the camera pans away in that moment, with Trujillo audibly alleging that the agents “got the money box.”
“They took everybody, yet they’re getting stuff, what are they getting, the money?” Trujillo narrates while watching. “They’re getting the money.”
Following that, the agent walks back to the stand again, before going back to the unmarked vehicle and getting in.
Trujillo’s footage also shows a grey car, its emergency lights flashing, parked on the side of the road. A red truck with undercover police lights is parked a few cars-distance away, in front of another food stand. A masked agent can be seen talking to someone.
A collision occurred between the red truck, driven by one of the agents, and a woman who was driving the grey car. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department cars arrived at the scene to assess the crash, Trujillo says.
Trujillo tells L.A. TACO that she was driving behind the agents’ unmarked vehicle after they departed from the food stand, watching as they U-turned and headed back to Don Chilaquiles. She says the stand was left empty before the agents returned to it.
L.A. TACO reached out to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, Department of Homeland Security, Don Chilaquiles, and L.A. Sheriff's Department for comment and will update this article if we hear back.
According to the “Personal Property" section of the 2015 U.S. Customs and Border Protection National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention, and Search, “Monetary Personal Property: Special attention must be given to the security and return of the detainee’s cash, currency, negotiable instruments, and debit/credit cards. The type, amount, and value of all detainee’s cash, currency, and negotiable instruments must be recorded in the appropriate electronic system(s) of record.”
On November 20, L.A. TACO reported on an incident in which masked border patrol agents took two elderly men, along with their twelve-pack of beer during a border patrol raid in Wilmington.
During an earlier immigration raid at Bixby Knolls Car Wash in Long Beach on September 13, agents were witnessed throwing away and confiscating immigration papers provided by a group of workers. The agents had called their papers fake, according to a report in the Long Beach Post.
A 2016 article from American Immigration Council on the handling of migrants’ belongings alleged that “U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have a serious and longstanding problem with handling the personal belongings of detained migrants in their custody. Too often, some or all of a detainee’s belongings are lost, destroyed, or stolen by the immigration-enforcement agents entrusted with their care.”
This morning, Trujillo drove by the intersection where she has seen Don Chilaquiles usually set up over the past six months or so. She found the space empty, emphasizing that the stand is popular in her community and was on her list to try.
Now, she may not get the chance.
Around the same time on Wednesday, masked Border Patrol agents detained at least one man near the DOUBLZ on Hacienda Boulevard and Glendora, just over a mile away, according to a post by lapuente626sgv.
Additional reporting provided by Izzy Ramirez
