Federal agents questioned workers at a Long Beach car wash on Monday morning, during a “very fast” interrogation that ended without anyone being taken into custody, according to the business’s manager.
Around 9:30 a.m., two unmarked vehicles pulled up to Naples Island Car Wash & Detail at 5790 Second Street, and roughly eight agents got out, said manager Angel Medina.
They spread out and began questioning the eight employees working, asking “if they were born here” and what hospital they were born at, Medina said.
As they arrived, Medina said he told one of his employees to “just work, don’t run, don’t freak out.”
After 3 to 4 minutes, the agents got back in the vehicles and left, according to Medina.
“I think as long as you speak English fluently and just answer their single questions, I think you’re good,” Medina said.
One of his coworkers, who has a darker complexion, was questioned the most, Medina said, adding that the agents took that man’s picture for an unknown reason.
All but two of the agents wore masks, Medina said. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed a law banning immigration agents and most other law enforcement from obscuring their faces, but the Department of Homeland Security said today it would not comply.
In a statement, DHS called the law “unconstitutional legislation that strips law enforcement of protections in a disgusting, diabolical fundraising and PR stunt.”
The agents on Monday did not show badges or warrants when they entered the property, Medina said.
“It happened so quickly, none of us even thought to ask for them,” Medina said.
About an hour earlier, ICE agents were also reportedly spotted at the Home Depot on Cherry Avenue near Willow Street in Signal Hill, according to immigrant rights group ÓRALE. It was not immediately clear if anyone was taken there.
The operations in Long Beach come exactly two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a federal judge’s order prohibiting agents from making roving immigration-related stops that civil rights groups have called “blatant racial profiling.”
Medina said he understands efforts to deport people who have criminal convictions, but Monday’s raid didn’t reflect that.
“You’re going after people that are trying to make a living for their families,” Medina said. After the agents left, the car wash stayed open, and employees finished up their shifts.