Teachers and community members rallied outside LAUSD headquarters on Tuesday, demanding action after a student was detained by ICE earlier this month.
On Aug. 8th, 18-year-old Benjamin Guerrero-Cruz was walking his dog in his Van Nuys neighborhood when masked men grabbed him and then handed him off to federal agents. He relayed what happened to his former teacher, Liz Becerra, who shared his story at the rally.
“He said that without any warning, men came up to him and grabbed him by the arm, started asking for this other person,” she said. “They said, ‘Are you this person?’ He said, ‘No, I’m not. My name is Ben.’ They’re like,’ What’s your name?’ He said, ‘My name is Benjamin.’ These people were masked in plain clothes. He said there was about three SUVs and did not identify themselves. They said immigration police. They never said his actual name. They said that he had to go with them to take fingerprints to investigate the supposed person that they were looking for. They never identified themselves. They never had any warrant with his name on it or anything like that.”…