At a surgical center in California, staff members were recorded on video attempting to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from detaining a Honduran landscaper this week. A staff member was heard telling a federal officer, “You don’t even have a warrant for him.”

The tense scene unfolded Tuesday at the Ontario Advanced Surgery Center, located about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. 

One of the staff in blue scrubs defended the man by saying, “Get your hands off of him.” They continued to protect the man from an ICE agent, insisting, “Let him go. You need to get out.”

The Department of Homeland Security stated on X that ICE officers were “carrying out a specific enforcement operation aimed at arresting two individuals who were in the country illegally.” They mentioned that the officers, wearing clearly marked ICE bulletproof vests, approached the intended targets as they were leaving a vehicle.

The Department of Homeland Security said “staff attempted to obstruct the arrest by locking the door, blocking law enforcement vehicles from moving, and even called the police claiming there was a ‘kidnapping.'” (Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice/AP)

Hernandez added that the man was sending money to Honduras to help his mother with her dialysis treatments. 

The incident is one of the latest in a growing series of confrontations with federal immigration officers. 

In another incident Tuesday, protesters were seen clashing with ICE agents wielding batons outside the San Francisco Immigration Court. 

An ICE agent is seen trying to bring the immigrant into custody on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Ontario, Calif. (Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice/AP)

Protesters also clashed with federal authorities Thursday during an immigration operation north of Los Angeles at a marijuana farm allegedly employing illegal immigrants.