EL MONTE, Calif. — A Southern California woman who was detained by federal immigration agents and broadcasted the entire incident live on social media has shared her experience, describing the ordeal as both terrifying and traumatic.
Maria Santay, who is a U.S. citizen and actively involved as a community observer, suspects she has become a focus for federal authorities. Her detention on Friday was not her first encounter with immigration officials.
Santay captured the dramatic scene on Instagram at an El Monte Chevron station located at Peck Road and Valley Boulevard around 2 p.m. local time. The footage reveals agents closing in on her car, eventually shattering her window with a hammer while she pleaded for help.
“They’re breaking my window, everyone. I’m a U.S. citizen. This is insane. This man is breaking my window,” she exclaimed during the live stream. Shortly after, the window smashed.
Overcome with emotion, she added, “They’re going to try to arrest me. This is unbelievable. I can’t believe this is happening. Lord, please protect me. I don’t trust them.”
Santay expressed that she genuinely feared for her safety throughout the incident.
“I thought, ‘This is it. These are my last moments,’” she recalled.
According to Santay, the confrontation followed what she believes was an intimidation encounter with immigration agents two days earlier, when officers stopped her car near the 10 Freeway.
Video she recorded at the time captured someone telling her, “That’s your first warning.”
“Turns out, they weren’t stopping me, they were just intimidating me,” Santay said.
On Friday, Santay said agents boxed in her car at the gas station as she was livestreaming.
“One of the officers got on the curb on the middle island to box my car in, one came on here, and one was behind me. Because of all the commotion, the police department got there,” she said.
El Monte police officers did not intervene as federal agents detained her.
“They threw me in their car, we got on the 10 Freeway, they took me all the way on a joy ride to Santa Ana, and then they get off on an exit,” she said.
By 5 p.m., Santay, whose charges include resisting arrest, was released. Her experience worsened when she said El Monte police refused to let her use the restroom.
“They made me pee in the parking lot, in some bushes, behind the horse carriers, with handcuffs on,” she said.
In a statement, the El Monte Police Department said officers responded to a call from Customs and Border Protection to support public safety, but that their officers “were not involved in the federal operation.”
Later Friday night, protesters gathered outside the police station, ringing cowbells and honking horns. Santay joined the demonstration despite her earlier ordeal.
“I prefer that they were taking their time, taking me on a joyride with BS charges, than picking up innocent people that they could have hurt on the street, so I thank them for that. I said ‘Thank you, thank you.’ I thanked them for not killing me, too,” she said.
Our sister station, ABC7 Eyewitness News in Los Angeles, reached out to Customs and Border Protection for comment on Santay’s arrest, but has yet to hear back.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help raise money for Santay as she prepares for a legal defense and makes repairs to her vehicle.
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