The mom of a 15-year-old California boy who was briefly detained by federal brokers at gunpoint in a case of mistaken identification recalled the terrifying interplay in an interview Wednesday.
Andreina Mejia stated she was parked on the curb exterior Arleta Excessive Faculty on Monday to enroll her daughter. At the moment, her son, Baldemar Gutierrez, who has particular wants, was together with her.
Swiftly, a truck pulled up behind Mejia’s automobile and a bunch of masked males poured out of the truck to encompass her and her son, she recalled.
“Anyone approached me, and one other individual approached [Baldermar], pointing a gun and a Taser,” she stated. “They pulled him out and so they handcuffed him immediately.”
Los Angeles Unified Faculty District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho described the incident throughout a information convention Tuesday, including that surveillance video captured armed brokers carrying “police” and “Border Patrol” insignia taking the teenager into custody.
“This younger man was positioned in handcuffs, presumably primarily based on mistaken identification. He was not an grownup. He was a 15-year-old boy with vital disabilities,” Carvalho stated.
California, led by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, has change into a goal within the powerful immigration crackdown by President Donald Trump’s administration. Earlier this month, an appeals courtroom saved in place a Los Angeles federal decide’s ruling that bars immigration brokers from utilizing an individual’s spoken language or job, like day laborer, as the only pretext to detain them.
The administration can also be embroiled in a authorized battle with the state over whether or not it violated federal legislation when it mobilized troops to Los Angeles this summer season. The administration stated the deployment of Nationwide Guard troops and Marines was meant to help immigration officers.
Carvalho stated the brokers concerned in Monday’s incident left bullets behind on the scene. District police reached out to the businesses that had been there to ask them to return and acquire the ammunition, Carvalho stated, however have been instructed that they may maintain the rounds and use them for goal observe.
“That’s not appropriate for us,” Carvalho stated. “Come and get what you left behind.”
In a put up on X, the Division of Homeland Safety stated Border Patrol brokers weren’t focusing on the highschool. The brokers have been in search of a Salvadoran nationwide with prior legal convictions and suspected of ties to the gang MS-13, DHS stated.
The division didn’t reply to an NBC Information e-mail Tuesday night time asking why the teenager was detained and requesting extra particulars on the incident.
Mejia stated her son has been shaken up because the encounter.
“He breaks down, and he tells me he feels harassed. He tells me he doesn’t really feel protected,” the mom stated.
The teenager, who has a listening to situation and speech delays, stated the brokers confirmed him an image, asking him about an individual they have been in search of.
“They handcuffed me and saved telling me who this individual is, and I used to be like, ‘I don’t know who that individual is,’” Baldermar recalled.
Mejia additionally stated the brokers confirmed her the image, and she or he responded that the individual pictured was not her son. Baldermar saved repeating his identify and instructed the boys that he was a U.S. citizen, the mother stated.
When the brokers lastly realized their mistake, they eliminated her son from handcuffs and implied it was a worthwhile expertise for him, Mejia stated.
“[One agent] was like, ‘Oh, we confused him with any individual else, however take a look at the brilliant aspect: You’re going to have an thrilling story to inform your pals once you return to high school,’” Mejia recalled. “What’s thrilling about getting weapons pointed at you?”
Mejia added that brokers may have requested for identification earlier than inserting her son in handcuffs.
Carvalho known as the incident “unacceptable” and stated district colleges can have security plans in place, together with rising patrols by college police in order that they will alert colleges of any potential immigration operations.
“That instance says all we have to find out about why these actions shouldn’t be happening round colleges. Bullets on the bottom — what else do we’d like? Past the trauma, what else do we’d like?” Carvalho stated.
Arleta is a neighborhood within the San Fernando Valley space, round 22 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
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