Several day laborers were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Friday morning at the parking lot of a Home Depot location in the Westlake District of Los Angeles.
Video clips from the scene showed officials with the Homeland Security Investigations division handcuffed people near 6th Street and Burlington Avenue near MacArthur Park.
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WATCH HERE“My friend started yelling, ‘ICE, ICE, ICE,’” one witness described. “I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t. Then I saw all the day laborers starting to run.”
It’s not clear how many people were detained.
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SIGN UP People often gather at such stores looking for temporary work, and agents may have taken the opportunity to confront them in accordance with President Trump's unprecedented crackdown on illegal immigration. He has vowed to wage the most extensive deportation effort in U.S. history.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to confirm or discuss the operation, but it said it routinely conducts operations.
“ICE arrests aliens who commit crimes and other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws,” the federal agency said in a statement. “All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States, regardless of nationality.”
