DAILY MEMO: ICE and Border Patrol Continue Shooting and Assaulting Southern Californian Immigrants, Citizens, Women and Minors

We break down immigration raids and related news in Southern California. Below, you'll find links and references to everything discussed in the video, allowing you to take a closer look at each topic.

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[The following covers raids from Saturday, January 17th through Wednesday, January 21st. ]

This morning, Federal agents continued their spree of shooting at cars in an attempt to detain someone, this time in Willowbrook between Watts and Compton. As most news outlets jumped on it and covered it, we were able to add a couple more details that were missed. First, the shooting happened less than a block from a jr. high, and second, a young girl was dragged from the scene by masked border patrol men while a witness observed her being punched as she was forced into a vehicle. Early reports state no one was hit, but there is a vehicle that crashed, airbags were deployed, and DHS claims an agent was hurt in the incident without any details provided.

The escalation continues in Southern California, and while we’re not facing 3,000 agents like Minnesota, we are still being relentlessly hit by daily raids, to the point that we at L.A. Taco are having trouble keeping up. Several people, we at L.A. Taco knows personally, from vendors to family, were targeted in the last several days, some are now in the hands of ICE. 

We also learned that we now have a 6th confirmed death in ICE detention this year. This is the third one at El Paso in less than two months, and ICE is alleging it was another suicide. His name was Victor Manuel Diaz; he was 36.

Meanwhile, here in Southern California, CBP continued its strategy of neighborhood-focused cluster raids, while ICE targeted areas around its local field offices in Ventura, San Bernardino, and Santa Ana. On Saturday, CBP focused its efforts in the Torrance, Gardena, and Carson areas. Then they heavily targeted Anaheim on Sunday. We saw them in La Puente, Baldwin Park, Ontario, and Pomona areas on Monday. And they went back to the OC yesterday, targeting the Westminster area.

Border Patrol targeted gardeners heavily, more than we’ve usually seen before, grabbing and tackling them while they were blowing strip mall parking lots and mowing lawns in residential neighborhoods. 

There were also incidents in Carlsbad, Thousand Oaks, San Bernardino, and Compton, among others, in the last few days, likely ICE activity. We’ll have it all listed on LATACO.COM once we’ve verified everything. 

We’re still collecting information on more than 80 reported incidents from Saturday through today. But here are a few I’ll mention you may not have already heard of. Before that, one thing we want to point out is a new trend we’re seeing: agents targeting neighborhoods around schools during early-morning drop-off hours and sometimes after school. 

On Saturday, they took someone I knew, someone I wrote about before the raids when I focused on food. They took Jesus Mendoza of Cachanilla Burritos. He used to work construction until he had a bad fall, breaking his neck, collar bone, and a couple of ribs. He can’t lift anything heavy anymore, so he wakes up every day at 3:30 am with his wife, who has chronic arthritis, to make about 80 burritos a day to sell on the street. It’s the only income they have to support their two young daughters. He is now in ICE custody. I’ll have his GoFundMe link in my own IG link in bio.

in Placentia, they grabbed a gardener who was working with his young son. The agents later dropped off the son after realizing the minor was a U.S. citizen. 

On Monday, in El Monte, a man chased by border patrol suffered severe head injuries. The fire department came by, and he was taken away by ambulance. We don’t have any further details at the moment.

I also received a couple of reports of agents drawing their weapons on observers this weekend and today, although those incidents weren’t captured on video. 

We also saw four observers harassed, detained, and hospitalized by ICE and/or CBP. In one instance, CBP called CHP whose officer was recorded giving a community member a hard time, offering different explanations for they were being pulled over and looking for reasons to ticket her, including a missing front license plate, something the Border Patrol’s car was also missing.  

In another incident, a young man was arrested by ICE for trying to help out a gardener who was being detained. He is currently in Santa Ana Police custody at Dyre court. We also have a report that another observer was hospitalized after a confrontation with agents during a kidnapping at a Target parking lot in Santa Ana. They were followed by ICE to the hospital. 

And another observer was violently shoved and roughed up by agents at a recycling center. 

But one thing we’re seeing in common with Minnesota is how much more frustrated and aggressive agents are becoming against observers and responders, as well as with people they are detaining, as we saw in the shooting this morning. Bovino stated this week that responders in Minnesota are much more organized, and their effective communication with each other is causing problems for CBP and ICE to run their operations. Organized community watch teams work. 

RAIDS

Saturday, January 17th. Day 225

• Long Beach: On Stearns St and Bellflower Blvd. Photo footage shows federal agents apprehending a man near the Chase bank.
• Torrance: On Carson St and Western Ave. Border Patrol agents were seen in the area, but no kidnappings were reported.
• Costa Mesa: On Mission Dr and Mendoza Dr, around 6:30 a.m. Local ICE agents were seen driving around the area.
• Torrance: At the Car Wash on 1831 213th St, around 8:45 a.m. Border Patrol agents raided the parking lot; they did not kidnap any car wash workers, but they did kidnap a gardener who was near the lot.
• Carson: On Sepulveda Blvd and Avalon Blvd, around 9:30 a.m. Border Patrol 
• Compton: On Bradfield Ave and Alondra Blvd, around 10:25 a.m. Border Patrol agents kidnapped two workers who were painting a church during service.
• San Diego: In Mira Mesa on Maya Linda Rd, around 10:25 a.m. An ICE scout was seen driving around the neighborhood.
• Torrance: On 1751 Torrance Blvd, around 10:30 a.m. Legal observers witnessed Border Patrol in the area utilize the location for processing.
• Gardena: At the Home Depot on 740 W 182nd St. Community watchers verified that at least one person was kidnapped.
• Dana Point: On Cordova Dr, around 11:20 a.m. An ICE scout was seen driving around the neighborhood. No kidnappings were reported.
• Gardena: On 1019 W 182nd St, around 11:25 a.m. Border Patrol agents kidnapped a good vendor.
• Gardena: On Artesia Blvd and Vermont Ave, around 11:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Border Patrol agents kidnapped a man who is heard screaming out that he has papers and is documented. Border Patrol agents took him anyway. 
• Torrance: At the Ponce Recycling Center on Del Amo Blvd and Hawthorne Blvd, around 11:55 a.m. Legal observers discovered Border Patrol agents at the intersection and saw them kidnap one person.
• Los Angeles: On 55th St and Hoover St, around 12:12 p.m. Border Patrol agents split up from their group in Gardena and were seen kidnapping a man at the intersection. We are unsure if this was targeted or a Kavanaugh stop.
• Compton: In front of a Northgate on Compton Blvd and Atlantic Ave, around 12:50 p.m., Border Patrol agents kidnapped a food vendor who sells on the sidewalk near the Northgate.

Sunday, January 18th. Day 226.

• Los Angeles: Near Hollenbeck Park on 415 S St Louis St, around 9:20 a.m. In video footage, local ICE agents were seen kidnapping a man on the street in what appears to be a targeted operation.
• Anaheim: On Romneya Dr and Euclid St, around 9:20 a.m. A known Border Patrol agent from Terminal Island was seen parked at a strip mall after driving through a car wash down a block away that had been raided in the past. Community watchers stated they had notified the car wash preemptively of Border Patrol’s presence, and nobody was kidnapped.
• Anaheim: On East St and Romneya Dr, around 9:25 a.m. Border Patrol agents were seen scouting the neighborhood.
• Anaheim: On 1201 E Santa Ana St, around 9:35 a.m. Border Patrol agents were seen apprehending and kidnapping two men after chasing them from a nearby 7/11 store.
• Placentia: At Raffa’s Market on 506 W Chapman Ave, around 9:40 a.m. Border Patrol agents were seen targeting a gardener and his son. In the video footage, we see both the father being apprehended and his young boy. Community watch teams spoke with L.A. TACO, who stated that the young boy was later dropped off after his status and age were verified. His father remained in the vehicle and was taken away.
• Anaheim: At the Target on Euclid and Lincoln, around 9:45 a.m. In footage submitted to L.A. TACO, Border Patrol agents were seen utilizing the parking lot of the Target store to process a man they kidnapped earlier.
• Los Angeles: Near Lorena St and Olympic Blvd, around 10:00 a.m. Federal agents were seen grabbing a man they were chasing who fell off his bike.
• Anaheim: On Falcon St and Chateau Ave, around 10:10 a.m. Border Patrol agents were seen questioning a man on video, and later confirmation with rapid responders showed that two men were kidnapped.
• Anaheim: On La Palma and State College around 9:55 a.m. Border Patrol agents raided a small Ponce recycling center and kidnapped two workers, a patron, and also went to the intersection and kidnapped a flower vendor.
• Anaheim: At a car wash on La Palma Ave and State College Blvd, around 11:58 a.m. Border Patrol agents were seen raiding the car wash's parking lot. Lega
• Anaheim: Outside of a Pizza Hut on State College Blvd and Lincoln Ave. Border Patrol agents were seen questioning a man. We are not sure if he was taken away.
• Santa Ana: On Fairview St and Edinger Ave, around 12:17 p.m. Border Patrol agents made their way to Santa Ana and kidnapped a flower vendor. As legal observers and bystanders documented the incident, another man was grabbed on the other end of the intersection by more agents.
• Lakewood: On Lakewood and the 91 FWY, around 12:45 p.m. Border Patrol agents were seen stepping out of their vehicles after stopping a car. No one was taken.

Monday, January 19th, Day 227.

• Santa Barbara: On Modoc Rd near La Cumbre Jr High, around 7:00 a.m. Local ICE agents kidnapped someone near the school.
• La Puente: On Fairgrove Ave and Hacienda Blvd, around 8:40 a.m. 
• La Puente: On Valley Blvd and 7th Ave. Local ICE agents were seen chasing a man on his bike, who subsequently faced injuries to his head.
• Reseda: In an undisclosed store. An SRT team was inside the premises with a dog. In video footage, there were at least three masked agents, with a woman handling the canine.
• Alhambra: On Garfield Ave and Valley Blvd around 9:39 a.m. Local police stated that they were dispatched regarding an altercation between two vehicles, with one being followed and allegedly running red lights. The police agents got in between the legal observers and the Border Patrol and stopped them both. They all went their separate ways not too long afterwards. Legal observers and onlookers condemned the local police for stopping them for simply documenting and following Border Patrol legally.
• Carlsbad: On Harding St and Pine Ave, around 9:50 a.m. Rapid responders confirmed that at least two people were kidnapped.
• San Bernardino: On 2nd and Mt. Vernon. Local ICE agents were seen questioning two men. We are not sure if anyone was taken.
• Baldwin Park: At the car wash on 4060 Sterling Way, around 10:15 a.m. Rapid responders confirmed that at least one person was taken during this raid.
• Ontario: On G and Grove, around 10:22 a.m. Border Patrol agents were seen questioning people.
• La Puente: On 125 S 7th Ave, around 10:30 a.m. Border Patrol agents were seen in the area. We are not sure if anyone was taken.
• Ontario: On 1450 Mission Blvd, around 10:27 a.m. Border Patrol agents were seen in the area kidnapping three people.
• Pomona: On San Antonio and East End, around 10:53 a.m. Border Patrol agents were seen in the area.
• Pomona: On Towne Ave and Arrow Hwy, around 11:15 a.m. Border Patrol agents were seen in the area on foot. We are unsure if anyone was taken.
• Pomona: On Holt Ave and Union Ave, around 12:12 p.m. Border Patrol agents kidnapped one man. According to rapid responders, they later returned at an unknown time and kidnapped three more people.
• Ontario: On Euclid Ave and Mission Blvd, around 1:00 p.m. Border Patrol agents kidnapped one person.
• San Bernardino: On Pedlet Rd and 4th St, around 3:50 p.m. Federal agents were seen kidnapping a man from his vehicle.

Tuesday, January 20th, Day 228.

• Long Beach: Eliot St & Silvera Ave. Two gardeners were kidnapped while working. According to the Long Beach Post, one gardener attempted to flee, telling agents he was born at Memorial Hospital in Long Beach and has dual citizenship, as he was being apprehended.  
• National City: Plaza Blvd & Highland Ave. Several CBP and ICE agents tackled and handcuffed one man in a shopping mall parking lot before forcing him into a vehicle. 
• Thousand Oaks: Hodencamp Rd & Thousand Oaks Blvd 6:25 a.m. VC Defensa confirmed ICE kidnapped two people. 
• San Bernardino: Meridian Ave & Rialto Ave, 8:00 a.m. 8:00 a.m. ICE kidnapped one person. 
• Westminster: Bob's Burgers on Westminster Blvd and Beach Blvd, around 9:40 a.m. CBP were seen staging. 
• Westminster: 13891 Beach Blvd, 9:55 a.m. CBP kidnapped 2 people. 
• Westminster: Near an auto shop by Beach Blvd and McFadden Ave. CBP was observed chasing after people. Two people were reported kidnapped. 
• Fontana: 16476 Foothill Blvd, 10:16 a.m. Federal agents were spotted pulling a vehicle over, but we don’t have confirmation of anyone taken. 
• Garden Grove: At the Home Depot on 10801 Garden Grove Blvd, around 10:30 a.m. Border Patrol agents slowly drove through the Home Depot lot, passing the Home Depot hub stationed there to assist day laborers. Border Patrol later returned around 12:30 p.m. where they chased folks and apprehended a day laborer at a nearby 7/11.
• Westminster: At the Best Buy on 500 Westminster Mall, around 10:38 a.m. Border Patrol agents were seen using the docking station near the Best Buy store to process and transfer a man they kidnapped into a transit truck.
• Midway City: Bolsa Ave and Purdy St, 10:52 a.m., CBP kidnapped one gardener while he was working.  A U.S. Citizen was arrested while trying to assist. 
• Santa Ana: CHP HQ on Santa Clara Ave & Tustin Ave, 11:24 a.m. CBP allegedly called CHP to interfere with a community observer. A CHP officer was recorded giving different explanations for why the observer was being pulled over.  As CHP tried to speak with Border Patrol, they opened their gate to allow BP agents to enter the back of their lot, away from the community observer. 
• Westminster: On Goldenwest St and Westminster Blvd, 11:24 a.m. CBP kidnapped one person who was walking through the parking lot of a strip mall across from an asian market.
• Westminster: Goldenwest St and Brunswick Dr, 11:38 a.m. CBP was seen grabbing a gardener from a local shopping mall and forcing him into an SUV after tackling him to the ground. In the video footage, you can see one agent appear to rip keys from the gardener's pants and throw them onto the ground next to a leaf blower.
• Garden Grove: Brookhurst St & Jenrich Ave, 12:40 p.m. CBP kidnapped one person.
• Santa Ana: Target on 17th St & Bristol St, 1:00 p.m. CBP kidnapped one person and injured another, who they followed to the hospital. 
• Fountain Valley: Brookhurst St & Ellis Ave, 12:45 p.m. CBP were seen questioning a couple of construction workers. One was confirmed taken. 
• Stanton: Beach Blvd and Cerritos Ave, 1:15 p.m. CBP kidnapped one to two people.
• Garden Grove: At a car wash on Chapman Ave and Gilbert St, around 1:05 p.m. Border Patrol agents raided the lot, but were unsuccessful in taking anyone.
• Santa Ana: Near Mendez Fundamental Intermediate on 2000 N Bristol St. Border Patrol agents were seen utilizing a building near the school. They were seen outside their vehicle in photo evidence. We are not sure if anyone was taken.

Wednesday, January 21st, Day 229.

At least two incidents of federal agent activity occurred in Escondido, today. 

• Escondido: Another masked agent and two unmarked vehicles were seen in the parking lot on North Broadway and West Washington Boulevard, in video footage reviewed by L.A. TACO.
• One of the unmarked vehicles with the license plate 9HED083, was seen during federal immigration activity at a Wal-mart in National City, a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent can be seen standing in front of the vehicle, according to a video posted by @officialarturoo, shared with L.A. TACO by @moralresistance, who tracks federal immigration license plates. 

• Escondido: Homeland Security Investigations detained a man near 606 N Escondido Blvd. in the Northgate Market parking lot. The unmarked vehicle with the license plates9HED083
• Escondido: Potential federal agent staging in the Escondido police department parking lot. 
• Del Mar: On 2673 Via de la Valle, Unit C Dell Mar, CA 92014. Several ICE agents kidnapped a man out of his truck.
• Carlsbad: 1838 Marron Rd. Carlsbad, CA 92008, behind the Dollar Tree and Marshalls. ICE agents were spotted in their vehicles. No one was taken. 
• Camarillo: Las Posas Shopping Center, 11:50 a.m. HSI agents were seen kidnapping one individual in the parking lot. 
• Laguna Beach: On 455 Dartmore St. 1:06 p.m. Several ICE agents visited a construction site. It doesn’t appear they were able to take anyone, but they were seen filming people inside the construction fence and the vehicles parked outside.
• Santa Ana: Downtown on 4th. 11:10 a.m. There was a massive ICE presence taking over the street. It appears agents may have picked someone up as the community came out to confront them before agents ran back into their cars and ran away. At least one community member was observed throwing a sidewalk sign at an ICE vehicle. 
• Willowbrook:126th and Mona St. Federal agents shot at another vehicle during a targeted operation as they attempted to arrest William Eduardo Moran Carballo of El Salvador. This occurred a block away from Dr. Ralph Bunche Middle School.
  • "In a dangerous attempt to evade arrest, this criminal illegal alien weaponized his vehicle and rammed law enforcement," the DHS spokesman alleged. "Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired defensive shots. The criminal illegal alien was not hit and attempted to flee on foot. He was successfully apprehended by law enforcement. The illegal alien was not injured, but a Customs and Border Protection officer was injured."
  • In a separate video at this same location, ICE and CBP dragged a girl on the ground before picking her up and shoving her into an SUV. The witness recording the incident states over the video that agents were punching the girl as they shoved her into the vehicle. 
• Lynwood: On Deputy Yamamoto Pl and Industry Way, around 9:40 a.m. Two Border Patrol vehicles were seen parked in the area.
• North Hollywood/Van Nuys: People reportedly detained. Need further info. 
• North Hollywood: Home Depot 11:59. ICE was seen there. Need further info. 
• North Hollywood: Forest Lawn Drive: Masked federal agents were seen on the side of the road. 
• North Hollywood: 12138 Keswick St. 10:55 a.m. Masked agents were seen near a construction site possibly loading someone into their SUV.
• Saticoy: 1284 Alelia Ave, 11:10 a.m. HSI agents were seen taking pictures of vehicle plates in a residential neighborhood. 
• Jurupa Valley: Granite Hill and Pyrite St. 9:22 a.m. About 4 ICE/CBP vehicles with 12 masked agents were observed parked in this area. One person was reportedly taken. 
• San Luis Obispo Jail: 7:20 a.m. ICE was again seen in the lobby waiting. 
• San Diego: Kearny Mesa. HSI conducted a raid this morning with an alleged judicial warrant. They busted down the door, but no one was home. 
• Lynwood: Behind the County Sheriff's office on Deputy Yamamoto Pl and Industry Way, 9:40 a.m. Known ICE vehicles from Terminal Island were spotted parked outside. 
• Anaheim: Euclid St. and Katella Ave, 7 a.m. Agents were seen tackling a man named Salvador Bautista, as he screamed and was dragged near train tracks as he was taken away. 

IN OTHER ICE-RELATED NEWS

• Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, memo says
  • The memo authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities.
• Fury as Amazon Ring Cameras Are Hooked Up to ICE System
  • "Your Ring camera is an ICE agent."
  • Back in October, Ring announced that its devices would soon be looped into a network of Flock AI surveillance cameras. That network, an investigation by 404 Media found, has been available to local and federal police and enforcement agencies like ICE 
• ‘Dial away’: Federal prosecutor asks public to provide disinfo to orgs tracking agents in Southern California 
  • Essayli seemed to mock Gomez’s call for information on the movements of federal agents to be reported to the Los Angeles Rapid Response Network by asking the public to use their Constitutional right to share disinformation.
  • “A friendly reminder that the public has a First Amendment right to call the number below and provide inaccurate information,” Essayli wrote. “It is unlawful to impede federal agents, but there is no prohibition on impeding radical organizations working to harbor criminal illegal immigrants.”
• Garden Grove High Schoolers participate in walkouts protesting ICE today. 
• Hundred in Burbank join call to protest ICE. 

Garfield and Roosevelt High Schools join walkouts protesting ICE.