A local immigrant rights group estimates at least nine people were detained by federal officials in immigration raids in Long Beach on Sunday.
Multiple videos of the raids were posted on social media, depicting masked men in “POLICE” garb chasing or arresting workers at two car washes — Andres Car Wash on Long Beach Boulevard in Cal Heights and Coast Hand Car Wash near the VA Medical Center.
A customer at the Coast Hand Car Wash said the masked men arrived suddenly around 9:30 a.m. and appeared to target anyone who tried to flee.
Watch: video from Coast Hand Car Wash.
“It seems that if you ran, they grabbed them and if you just ignored them, they went past you,” the customer, David Kelley, said. “The agents didn’t say anything like, ‘This is a raid or bust or we are looking for so and so.’ They just swooped in, grabbed who they could and then left.”
According to the local immigrant rights group Organizing Rooted in Abolition, Liberation, and Empowerment, or ÓRALE, at least nine people were apprehended.
Telephone lines for both car washes were not in operation Monday.
June Choi, a neighbor who runs a glass repair shop next to Andres Car Wash, provided a video to the Long Beach Post showing two men jumping out of an unmarked car and sprinting after another man running from them.
Mayor Rex Richardson said he met with the owner, Andres, who said four workers were taken.
“These were not criminals,” Richardson said on social media. “These were individuals who come here every day to go to work and support their families.”
More raids like this have been popping up across the region in the past week, despite a court ruling temporarily blocking immigration authorities from using race, ethnicity, language or place of employment as the basis for suspected violation of immigration laws.
The government has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse that injunction, in which a federal judge found that roving immigration patrols likely violated people’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Richardson said he believes Sunday’s raids were a violation of the judge’s order. He said the City Attorney is looking into what, if any, recourse Long Beach has, including asking a judge to hold the federal government in contempt.
Car wash centers in Los Angeles and Orange counties, in particular, have been targeted, according to CLEAN Carwash Worker Center, a local labor advocacy nonprofit that lobbies for improved conditions for car wash employees.
Representatives with CLEAN estimate more than 100 people — mostly workers but also some customers — have been detained in sweeps at car washes in L.A. and Orange counties since June.
Since the Trump administration began ramping up immigration enforcement that month, ÓRALE estimates at least 20 people in Long Beach have been taken by federal agents, including the nine from yesterday.
“Both numbers could change, though, as we are still working to connect with families impacted by yesterday’s abductions and the overall number accounts only for people whose families ÓRALE has been able to connect with,” a spokesperson said.
A spokesperson with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday did not immediately provide answers to questions from the Long Beach Post.
In an email, the Long Beach Police Department said they had no involvement.
Kelly said the agents’ raid on Sunday was terrifying.
“The car wash locked their remaining employees in the store and lowered the door to the car wash until they left,” he said.
“This is wrong on so many levels,” he added. “My heart breaks for all those men and their families going through this.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated with comments from the mayor, including that he spoke with the owner of Andres Car Wash, whom a neighbor previously speculated may have been taken.