Huntington Park police said they have arrested a man who may have been posing as a federal immigration agent at a time of heightened tensions in Southern California immigrant communities due to ongoing enforcement raids.
Fernando Diaz, 23, was arrested on Tuesday after officers came across his Dodge Durango parked in a handicapped zone near the 7000 block of Alameda Street, according to police.
Officers were impounding an SUV when a man approached claiming to own the SUV, according to Police Chief Cosme Lozano.
“Having learned that the vehicle was being impounded, the individual requested to retrieve items from the vehicle that he claimed belonged to a friend,” Lozano said. “When questioned by the officers about the police-like items inside the vehicle, the individual claimed he formerly worked as a security guard.”
Officers searched the vehicle and found a loaded 9mm semi-automatic firearm, official-looking documents bearing the heading of Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a sheet containing U.S. CBP radio codes, and multiple copies of passports not registered under the individual’s name, according to Lozano.
The Durango was also equipped with radios, police-type lights and other miscellaneous items indicative of possible criminal activities, police said.
Officers arrested Diaz for possession of the allegedly unregistered firearm. He was later released on $5,000 bail, city officials said.
The 23-year-old denies the claims by officials that he told Huntington Park police that he was a former Border Patrol agent.
“At no point, no point, I said I’m a federal agent because if I had said, oh, ‘I’m a federal agent’ and stuff like that, I would have been charged for impersonating a federal officer and we wouldn’t be talking here. We would have been talking in the jail cell,” said Diaz.
The Huntington Park Police Department says that Diaz is still being investigated and is working closely with the district attorney to determine whether additional charges may be warranted.
“At this time, the charges filed did not include impersonation of a federal agent. However, HPPD continues to actively investigate whether Mr. Diaz was in fact impersonating a federal officer, based on evidence recovered from his vehicle—including a firearm, what appeared to be federal immigration documents, personal records belonging to unknown individuals, law enforcement-style communication devices, and other federal agency paraphernalia. This evidence is in addition to statements made by Mr. Diaz himself, claiming to be a former employee of Customs and Border Protection,” wrote a public relations firm on behalf of Huntington Park police.
Diaz, who had an outstanding DUI warrant, also has a record related to human smuggling and a history of being arrested for possession of an allegedly unregistered firearm.
The arrest came amid recent immigration enforcement operations across Los Angeles, generally being carried out by armed federal agents wearing face-covering masks, civilian clothing and no badges or identification as law enforcement officers. They generally wear bullet-proof vests that say “Police”,”ICE” or the name of other federal agencies, according to authorities.
Public officials have denounced authorities, saying it invites criminal activity and fear by law-enforcement imposters.
“These are not isolated fears. Across the region, people are reporting incidents with individuals claiming to be federal agents, driving tinted and unmarked vehicles, wearing plain clothes and refusing to show identification,” Arturo Flores, Huntington Park Mayor, said at a news conference on Friday.
Flores said the city council passed a resolution this week requiring the police department to verify the identity of any federal agents operating within the city.
Last week, two California lawmakers proposed a new state law to ban members of law enforcement from concealing their faces while on duty.
Federal officials have insisted that the immigration agents wear masks to protect themselves and their families from attacks by protesters objecting to the enforcement operations.
NBCLA’s Robert Kovacik and Missael Soto contributed to this report.
Source: NBC Los Angeles