The Department of Homeland Security claimed the man who ran onto a freeway to his death “was not being pursued” by its agents
A man appeared to have been chased by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from a Southern California Home Depot onto a freeway Thursday, where he was struck by a vehicle.
The man was taken to a hospital but died from his injuries, according to Monrovia city manager Dylan Feik. A police officer saw the immigration raid after the department received a call reporting ICE activity in the Los Angeles County area, about 10 miles from Pasadena, Feik told NBC.
The ambush on people outside of the Home Depot by ICE agents comes as part of a months-long campaign by the Trump administration to detain people that masked federal agents suspect may have immigrated illegally.
Los Angeles was the site of Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops and Marines in June, an action that a judge is currently weighing to determine if it violated federal law.
The name and identity of Thursday’s victim was not publicly released, and the California Highway Patrol said his death is under investigation.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security claimed in a statement that the man “was not being pursued by any DHS law enforcement,” according to NBC.
DHS and ICE have often appeared to show reluctance to share specific details surrounding their agents, detention facilities, deportation proceedings and immigration raids amid the Trump administration’s escalation of its detention and deportation efforts.
The agencies’ seemingly intentional lack of transparency and accountability has been a core focus of nationwide protests against mass deportations, which leading humans rights groups have described as largely racially motivated.
The Cato Institute, a conservative think tank, found in June that 65% of ICE detainees had no convictions, and 93% did not have violent criminal convictions.
Trump deployed 4,000 National Guard members and later 700 Marines to Los Angeles in June after protests in response to immigration raids around the city. They were originally deployed to protect federal property, including a detention center targeted by protesters, according to The Associated Press.
The Guard members later began guarding agents as they continued arresting people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. Between 250 and 300 Guard troops remain and have been activated through November.
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