A routine immigration raid in South Los Angeles has turned into a haunting mystery for the family of Vicente Ventura Aguilar, a 44-year-old Mexican immigrant who has now been missing for more than six weeks.
Relatives say Ventura Aguilar was detained by federal agents on Oct. 7. A witness later reported that he suffered a medical emergency while in custody. Yet the Department of Homeland Security insists he was never in its detention system — leaving his loved ones desperately asking a single question: Where is Vicente?
A Family Left in the Dark
According to his brother, Felipe Aguilar, Vicente left home in South L.A. around 8:15 a.m. on Oct. 7 to take a bus to a sanitation job interview. He carried his phone but left his wallet at home. On the way, he stopped to talk with friends near a neighborhood liquor store.
One of those friends later told the family that both men were picked up by immigration agents, handcuffed and transported to a temporary holding site known as B-18, a federal facility in downtown Los Angeles used for short-term detention…