A chaotic scene unfolded at a car wash Sunday as federal agents chased after employees during an immigration enforcement operation in Santa Ana.
The immigration raid was carried out around 9:30 a.m. at Bristol Car Wash in the 2400 block of South Bristol Street.
Witnesses say at least five vehicles with several agents descended upon the business and began detaining people within minutes.
“They arrived and surrounded us all, and they took away two boys from here,” said car wash manager Jose Morales. “One is from Puebla and one is from Nicaragua, and we feel very sorry for them because they are our workers.”
Relatives of the detainees came to the scene to find out about their loved ones, although Morales says that little information is available at this time.
“It makes me sad because we can’t do anything, even though I want to keep them safe. We can’t do anything with them,” said Morales.
A longtime employee of Bristol Car Wash says many began to run and hide from the federal agents.
“We all went inside and locked ourselves in the bathroom because safety is important. They closed the doors of the car wash, and that’s very important,” said Rafael Sandoval. “It was very ugly and stressful for everyone, but here we are, continuing to work and not being afraid.”
NBCLA has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for more information on the operation, but has not received a response.
Just 24 miles apart in Long Beach, an immigration raid at another car wash ended in the arrest of 7 people Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security said.
The recent immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California are part of President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to carry out a mass deportation plan.
As of September 11, more than 58,000 migrants had been detained by ICE since the start of President Trump’s second term, according to NBC News, which used public and internal ICE data, as well as data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP). About 29.4% of those detained had criminal convictions; 25.5% had pending criminal charges; 45.8% were listed as “other violators.”
Source: NBC Los Angeles