LOS ANGELES — On a June morning in downtown Los Angeles, Andrea Velez was just trying to get to work. Within seconds, the 32-year-old U.S. citizen was on the ground, handcuffed by masked men who she says never identified themselves. She disappeared into federal custody.
Months later, her voice shook as she relived that moment before a congressional field hearing in Los Angeles that was convened to examine unlawful detention of U.S. citizens and civil rights abuses by federal immigration agents.
“My name is Andrea Velez, a proud daughter of Mexican immigrants and a Cal Poly Pomona graduate,” she told members of Congress. “On Tuesday, June 24th, my mother and sister dropped me off at work. Seconds later, unmarked cars swarmed the streets and masked men in plain clothing began chasing and attacking people without identifying themselves as ICE.”
“One of them ran towards me, terrified, I’d used my work bag as a shield, but he slammed me into the sidewalk and accused me of interfering,” she said. “When I asked for his badge or a warrant, he refused and handcuffed me.”
Velez’s testimony, and the video and court records that back it up, stand in stark contrast to what the Trump administration and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are telling the country.
‘No American citizens have been arrested’ – reports show 170 US Citizen have been arrests
At an Oct. 30 news conference in Gary, Ind., during a major Midwest immigration enforcement push, Noem insisted that U.S. citizens were not being swept up in federal raids.
“There’s no American citizens have been arrested or detained. We focus on those that are here illegally,” she said. “And anything that you would hear or report that would be different than that is simply not true and false reporting.”
Her comments were captured on video and reported by news outlets across the country. Witness testimony and lawsuits show that there are 170 cases of U.S. citizens arrested by immigration agents across the country since Trump began his second term.
Homeland Security itself has tried to push back on mounting evidence, saying in an Oct. 1 public statement, “ICE does NOT arrest or deport U.S. citizens,” while simultaneously posting explanations on its website and social media about why citizens have, in fact, been detained or arrested.
That disconnect, between what federal officials say at the podium and what people on the ground are living through, is what brought Congress, Los Angeles leaders and community members together for an oversight hearing in the heart of a sanctuary city.
A field hearing in a sanctuary city
On Nov. 24, Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, joined Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, other Democratic members of Congress, local officials, labor, faith and immigrant rights leaders for a field hearing focused on wrongful detentions and civil rights abuses tied to federal immigration enforcement in Southern California.
“Every person in our country has a right to due process, regardless of immigration status,” Garcia said in prepared remarks. “It’s critical that the Oversight Committee document and hold accountable those that are defying the constitution, violating civil rights and terrorizing families and communities.”
Mayor Bass called reports that Angelenos, including U.S. citizens, were forcibly held, attacked and deprived of their freedom “intolerable,” promising that the city would “relentlessly defend the rights of every resident in Los Angeles.”
Witnesses included immigration attorneys, labor leaders, faith leaders, and those directly impacted by federal raids, among them Velez, who was charged with assaulting an officer before federal prosecutors abruptly moved to dismiss her case for lack of evidence.
Garcia also used the hearing to unveil the Oversight Immigration Enforcement Dashboard, a reporting tool hosted on the Oversight Democrats’ official website that allows the public nationwide to document possible misconduct by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. The goal, he said, is to create a public record and pressure DHS’s own investigators to act.
‘They didn’t believe I was a U.S. Citizen’
Velez’s account of her arrest is harrowing and familiar to many Angelenos who say they have watched federal immigration operations bleed into everyday life.
“They didn’t believe I was a US citizen or bothered to check my ID,” she told the committee. “My mother and sister saw it all, powerless to intervene; they called 911. But LAPD assisted ICE instead of protecting me.”
After she was forced into an vehicle, Velez spotted Los Angeles Police Department officers. She ran toward them, telling one officer she believed she was being kidnapped. Bystander video shows an LAPD officer holding Velez as one of the agents runs up and handcuffs her. She does not appear to resist, but the agent lifts her off the ground and carries her across the street.
A third video shows LAPD officers forming a line to shield federal agents from community members filming the arrest as Velez desperately tries to shout her mother’s phone number to a bystander.
Velez testified that she spent “most of that first day shackled in a van, watched others arrive distraught and taken against their will. She witnesses another U.S. citizen swept up that day, 23-year-old Luis Hipolito, who she says was targeted simply for recording federal agents.
“He was pepper-sprayed, beaten,” Velez said. “They minimized his pain as not a big deal, despite convulsing, bleeding, and struggling to breathe. Only after he was in shock did ICE call an ambulance.”
“Inside, I was denied the right to call my family or speak to a lawyer,” Velez said. “ICE refused to disclose my whereabouts. Requests to use the bathroom or asking for food were met with hostility and anger. At the Metropolitan Detention Center, I could not access drinking water without purchasing a cup. Thankfully, another detainee lent me theirs.”
Sixteen days after her arrest, the Justice Department dropped its case. Her lawyer told The Guardian she requested body-worn camera footage and witness statements and never received them — “a shocking and disgusting travesty of justice.”
A pattern of misinformation — from the podium to the courtroom
Federal officials continue to insist no U.S. citizens are being arrested, despite data and public records showing otherwise. But advocates say the credibility problems extend far beyond press conferences.
According to The Guardian, in Velez’s case, the Homeland Security task force affidavit, authored by Agent Joseph Arko, claimed she “stepped into the path” of an officer and “struck his face,” a description directly contradicted by eyewitness accounts and video evidence. Prosecutors dismissed the case before providing her attorney with requested footage.
According to The Guardian, a similar pattern emerged in the case of Adrian Martinez, the 20-year-old Walmart worker arrested in Pico Rivera. Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X.com that Martinez had “punched” a Border Patrol agent. The Border Patrol chief repeated the allegation publicly. But video shows no punch, and the Justice Department complaint made no mention of one — charging instead a vague “conspiracy to impede” count.
Civil rights attorneys say these contradictions — between what officials say on social media, what they put in court documents, and what actually happened — raise serious questions about truthfulness under oath.
LAPD’s denial — and what video and witnesses say
In a public statement after the incident, LAPD said officers responded to 911 calls about a “possible kidnapping” and claimed the department was “not involved” in Velez’s detention. When pressed by The Guardian, a department spokesperson pointed to its longstanding line that LAPD is “not involved in civil immigration enforcement.”
But Velez’s testimony, eyewitness accounts, and our reporting point to repeated instances where LAPD assisted federal agents. Grassroots activists are calling for Mayor Karen Bass to fire LAPD Police Chief Jim McDonnell.
“I know a lot of people have said LAPD isn’t assisting ICE and DHS — but they are,” said activist Taylor Marie Smith, during a virtual town hall meeting with Mayor Karen Bass in early November. “The level of brutality, the intimidation — it’s clear that DHS makes a phone call and LAPD shows up.”
Los Angeles has a sanctuary city ordinance, adopted by the City Council in November 2024, that prohibits city resources, property and personnel from being used for federal immigration enforcement. At a recent virtual town hall on immigrant rights, Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides acknowledged the tension.
“There are times when a radio call comes out — whether it’s a kidnapping call or federal immigration requesting help from LAPD for public safety reasons — LAPD does respond,” she said, prompting a flood of questions in the chat from residents demanding to know how the city would ensure LAPD is not effectively working with ICE.
Grassroots organizers say what’s happening on sidewalks, outside raids and around the Metropolitan Detention Center goes far beyond “keeping the peace.” They point to officers using less-lethal rounds, tear gas, pepper spray, mounted units and sweeping arrests to clear protesters and bystanders — tactics they say are aimed at chilling dissent and protecting federal operations, not public safety.
Alexandria Augustine, was arrested while protesting a raid, charged with assaulting a federal officer with a “deadly weapon” because she held a 15-ounce umbrella to shield herself from pepper spray and bear spray. She spent five days in federal custody before a jury acquitted her in October.
“Over the summer, hundreds of people were arrested and brutalized,” Augustine said, describing officers “improperly using less-than-lethal ammunition, trampling people with horses” and misusing city codes to harass protesters.
Since June 2025, the Los Angeles Times has reported that LAPD has arrested more than 2,500 people in connection with protests and immigration raids, even as the department insists it does not enforce federal immigration law.
A crackdown with consequences — and demands for accountability
What happened to Velez, Hipolito, Martinez, Augustine and others is fueling a growing chorus of residents demanding transparency, independent oversight and a firewall between city agencies and federal immigration authorities.
For months, activists have packed City Council meetings, calling for independent oversight of LAPD’s interactions with federal immigration agencies, full transparency about arrests tied to raids and protests, and a firm and clear separation between the sanctuary city and Trump’s immigration agenda. Some are urging Mayor Bass to remove Chief McDonnell, accusing him of allowing federal politics – and pressure from officials like Trump appointed Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli – to shape local policing.
Bass has said publicly she is “very concerned” about videos of police use of force and has pushed for investigations, but she has so far stood by McDonnell, saying what’s happened in one year does not represent his tenure.
For people like Velez, that political back-and-forth is abstract next to the fear that now shapes her daily life.
After her release, she began working remotely, afraid to return downtown. She does therapy sessions online, has stopped her morning runs and avoids leaving home alone.
Still, she chose to testify publicly not just for herself, she said, but for the street vendors, janitors and other workers she watched being hauled away, and for Hipolito, whose convulsions and pleas went unanswered until, she says, he was in shock.
“I spent most of that first day shackled in a van,” she told lawmakers, remembering the ambulances shuttling in the wounded and the people she feared might never return to their families. “Our community continues to be targeted because of the color of our skin.”
In the hearing room, her final plea and challenge to the officials now promising accountability.
“I urge you to hold ICE and other agencies accountable for dehumanizing our Hispanic and immigrant communities,” she said.
