Cary López, Andrea Vélez, Javier Ramírez, Juan José Gutiérrez, Ángel Piña and Joel Acuña filed individual lawsuits against the United States government, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the authorities of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for having been alleged victims of false arrest, assault and battery, and violation of civil and constitutional rights.
Since the Supreme Court gave the green light for the application of racial profiling in the detentions, arrests and mass deportations of the Donald Trump administration, the cruelty of the hooded ICE and CBP agents has been cruel to immigrants, particularly those living in the United States in an irregular situation and American citizens of Latino origin.
“The immigrant community is suffering the consequences of the green light that the Supreme Court gave to Trump’s agents to commit their misdeeds,” declared lawyer Luis Carrillo, who, along with his son Michael, represents the plaintiffs. “The six people are victims of brutal Gestapo-style tactics the likes of which have never been seen in the United States.”
In September 2025, the Supreme Court stayed an obnoxious court injunction that had previously restricted ICE from conducting certain types of mass immigration detentions in the Los Angeles area.
In a 10-page concurring opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh defended the government’s approach, holding that apparent ethnicity could be considered, along with “other common-sense indicators” (such as location, language, or type of employment), as one part of approaching people for the purpose of determining their citizenship status, meaning ICE and CBP agents have an open hand in racial profiling.
“I still have a hard time talking because it brings back terrible memories of what happened that day when I went to pick up my husband and cousin from work,” said Carey López Alvarado, who was 23 years old and nine months pregnant when she was chained from stomach to toe by ICE agents.
“For me, justice would be that [los agentes de ICE y CBP] Be responsible for your actions, for what you have done and what you continue to do. Let them see that what is happening is wrong, because we are human and we should not be treating each other like this.”
In recent years, federal immigration agents have detained or detained more than 170 U.S. citizens against their will, according to an extensive report by Pro-Publica.
While ICE is not legally authorized to deport U.S. citizens, investigations have revealed that the agency previously detained more than 170 potential citizens and mistakenly deported at least 70 U.S. citizens over a five-year span.
‘Grab him, he’s Mexican’
Javier Ramírez, an American citizen of Mexican origin, recalled what happened on the afternoon of June 12, 2025 at a junk car business in the city of Montebello, when masked agents suddenly burst in.
“Immigration entered our yard, although it says it is private property and they cannot enter for insurance reasons,” he said. “I approached to get out of there, and the first thing someone said: “Hiya, where are you going? Don’t be lazy. Where are you from?”.
“One of them turned around and said in English ‘grab him, he’s Mexican’…they threw me to the floor, they put their knee on my face, on my neck and also on my back. In a video you can see that I’m all bloody from my face,” he added. “That day I had my passport in my wallet.”
Javier was imprisoned for five days at the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center, without receiving medical attention.
A previous review by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted that inadequate records management makes it impossible to determine the true number of wrongful arrests, confirming the existence of hundreds of unjustified arrests and dozens of deportations.
Pro-immigrant activist detained by ICE
Another of the plaintiffs is the pro-immigrant activist, Juan José Gutiérrez.
“The lawsuit is being filed not only so that the damage is restituted, but so that justice is done,” he stated. “I am also a citizen of the United States and was arrested on November 27.”
Gutiérrez was returning from Mexico City just on Thanksgiving Day.
“When I arrive at the airport [LAX] I go to the artificial intelligence machine that is supposed to make leaving the airport on an international flight more efficient and I am the only one whose machine has problems giving me the green light and allowing me to proceed,” he said.
He was directed to an individualized screening by an immigration customs officer, to whom he presented his United States passport and driver’s license.
“Is there a problem?” Asked. There was no response.
Eventually a supervisor and several officers in paramilitary attire arrived with M-16 long guns.
“They turned me over, handcuffed me, and took me out of the airport in the presence of all the passengers,” he said. “They took me to another room at the bottom of the airport, which was very intimidating, and then there were more immigration officers.”
“They make me take my shoes reasonably, everything reasonably, take everything out of my pockets and when I insistently ask why I am arrested, why is this happening? They just told me to stay silent,” Gutiérrez said.
Finally, he signed some papers about his belongings and was taken to another place.
They chained him to a steel bench, “for security reasons.”
The leader of the immigrants was released until 3:00 in the morning on Friday, November 28.
“What is happening is serious,” emphasized Juan José Gutiérrez. “For me, justice is that the promise of the Constitution is fulfilled for all citizens and residents of the United States that we have an equal floor, that we are not discriminated against just because of how we look at each other, how we speak, whether we speak English with an accent or not, nor because of the color of our skin.”
Chained in the stomach
On June 8, 2025, in the city of Hawthorne, Cary López Alvarado received two calls: one from her cousin, Alberto Sandoval, and another from Brian Najera, her husband. Both were pursued by immigration agents.
“I panicked and got out of my car, I tried to walk towards where they were. I saw how an immigration vehicle collided with the back of my husband’s truck. Then I saw that many more vehicles surrounded the area and the truck my husband was in,” she recalled.
The officers shouted that they would break the window and ask them to get out. Cary pointed out to them that they were on private property, but they refused to listen to her.
“One of them was very threatening towards me. He deliberately went out of his way to threaten my life,” he stressed. “I was talking to 911 when this happened; the officer noticed that 911 appeared on my phone screen and tried to change his version of events, claiming that they were trying to move the vehicle – and asking me if I wanted to die – because, according to him, they were trying to flee; however, the truck was with the parking brake on. I replied: “That’s not what you said; “You just threatened to kill me.”
“The agent started pushing and elbowing me. Instinctively, I hunched over to cover my abdomen, afraid I was going to hurt my baby. Then, I almost fell, so I used my body to lean on the work van to prevent myself from falling. That’s when two or three other immigration agents arrived and started pulling me and struggling with me. My cousin intervened and told them, ‘Hey, be careful, she’s pregnant!’
But they pushed him and asked him: “Do you want us to arrest you?” That’s when they put handcuffs behind her back and dragged her to their vehicle.
“At that moment I felt a little dizzy; so, when I managed to recover and realize what was happening, I saw that they had my cousin and my husband on the ground, with the immigration agents exerting all the weight of their bodies on both of them. From there they took us to a secluded area, where they insulted me, closed the doors in my face and told me that I had been born in Mexico – and that, although my baby would be born there, in the United States – I kept repeating to them that I spoke English and that I myself had been born there [en Hawthorne]”.
The agents responded that they would see if that was true. She provided them with her Social Security number, identification number, the name of the sanatorium, the time and exact date of her birth.
“When they heard this, they looked shocked and said, “Well, let’s check it out on the computer.”
She was then transferred to the Department of Homeland Security and had a chain placed under her belly that linked her hands to her feet.
“They told me that I was stupid, why was I doing all that, and they continued insulting me the entire time. Finally, they told me that the only reason they were letting me go was because I was pregnant, but to wait for a call, since they were going to press charges against me,” the plaintiff reported.
Just five days after her arrest and arrest, the strong impact of the incident caused Cary López Alvarado to give birth prematurely to her daughter Ailany.
