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A U.S. citizen, who was arrested by immigration officers and accused of hindering a legal procedure before charges against her were dropped, expressed ongoing trauma from the incident.
Andrea Velez found herself in downtown Los Angeles on June 24, when officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained her. She faced accusations of attacking a federal officer during an attempt to detain another individual.
The Department of Justice later dismissed her case without prejudice. The agency did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.
Velez, who works as a production coordinator for a shoe company, recalled seeing federal agents when her mother and sister dropped her off at work.
“It was like a scene,” she told NBC Los Angeles. “They were just ready to attack and chase.”
Velez recalled being forcefully grabbed and thrown to the ground. Despite her attempts to inform the plainclothes officer of her citizenship, he claimed she was interfering, warranting her arrest.
She inquired about the officer’s identification and warrant, only to be told such details were unnecessary.
A federal complaint stated an agent was pursuing another man when Velez allegedly obstructed his path, extending her arm in a purported effort to stop the agent from detaining the man.
The complaint said that Velez’s arm hit the agent in the face.
Velez refuted these allegations, affirming her U.S. citizenship. She was transported to a downtown Los Angeles detention facility, where she presented her driver’s license and health insurance card, but was nonetheless jailed.
She said she spent two days in the detention center, where she had nothing to drink for 24 hours.
Velez said the ordeal traumatized her, and she has not been able to physically return to work.
“I’m taking things day by day,” she told the news station.
Her attorneys told NBC Los Angeles that they are exploring legal options against the federal government.
Her story echoes those of others who have said they were wrongfully detained by immigration agents under President Donald Trump’s push for mass deportations.
Job Garcia, a Ph.D. student and photographer, said he was tackled and thrown to the ground by immigration agents for recording a raid at a Home Depot in Los Angeles. He was held for more than 24 hours before his release. In July, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund said it was seeking $1 million in damages, alleging that Garcia was assaulted and falsely imprisoned.
In June, a deputy U.S. marshal was briefly detained in the lobby of a federal building in Tucson, Arizona, because he “fit the general description of a subject being sought by ICE,” the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement.
And in May, Georgia college student Ximena Arias-Cristobal was granted bond after she was detained by immigration agents after local police pulled over the wrong car during a traffic stop.
