In the initial wave of roving immigration patrols throughout Los Angeles in June, two arrests that took place days apart contributed to what a federal judge has since called “a mountain of evidence” that local residents were being indiscriminately rounded up.
Border Patrol agents arrested Russell Gomez Dzul and questioned him about his citizenship after they thought he appeared “startled and nervous” while riding his bicycle on July 7, according to court documents, even though the agents were searching for someone else suspected of a crime. Specifics are unclear, but it was a weekend of protests following reports of immigration raids.
Days later, Border Patrol agents arrested Javier Ramirez at LA City Junk Cars on West Olympic Boulevard in Montebello where he works, and questioned his citizenship after he appeared to “conceal himself between two nearby vehicles,” court documents show…