- Border Patrol agents questioned Latino citizens’ legal status during raids in California.
- US citizen detained despite showing identification and proving American birth.
- Mayor condemns federal agents for targeting residents based on appearance alone.
LOS ANGELES — They swept into the Southern California car lot last Thursday at 4:32 p.m. — masked and armed Border Patrol agents in an unmarked white SUV.
One agent soon twisted Jason Brian Gavidia’s arm and pressed him against a black metal fence outside the lot where he runs an auto body shop in Montebello, a working-class suburb east of the Los Angeles city limits. Another officer then asked him an unusual question to prove whether he was a U.S. citizen or an immigrant living in the country illegally.
“What hospital were you born at?” the Border Patrol agent asked…