Masked and armed federal agents detained a U.S. citizen father and took away his baby, who was in the back of the car, in the middle of an immigration raid in Los Angeles, which has caused outrage from the community and human rights advocates.
The 32-year-old Latino father was detained during a raid at the Home Depot store in the Cypress Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, which resulted in the arrest of five undocumented immigrants, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
ICE takes away car with baby inside
On Tuesday, federal immigration agents apprehended a man in Cypress Park while his toddler was secured in the back seat of his car. pic.twitter.com/ee3FCrzGON
– Steve (@Adriel1819) November 5, 2025
The man’s arrest was captured on video by a member of The Los Angeles Rapid Response Network (LARRN), who protested the manner in which the man was removed from the car, while his baby, a barely one-year-old girl, was in her car seat in the back of the vehicle.
The images show the officers forcibly subduing the father, while two other officers searched the front of the car and tried to calm the little girl.
The father was handcuffed and taken to a van with the other detainees, leaving the little girl alone.
In the face of the community’s shouts and rejection, two masked and armed agents got into the car and took it away with the little girl inside.
LARRN, a coalition of more than 50 organizations, groups and more than 1,500 volunteers throughout Los Angeles County, denounced the incident as a kidnapping.
The kidnapping of a man and a baby in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Cypress Park demonstrates the cruelty and brutality of the indiscriminate, racially motivated kidnappings that occur in our neighborhoods
LARRN
The mother of the detainee and grandmother of the girl, who identified herself as Maria at a press conference, said that the operation had left her “devastated” and demanded an explanation of what had happened.
Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights(CHIRLA), a member of LARRN, called it “unprecedented” for the federal government to ignore the welfare and safety of an infant under the age of two.
“We roundly condemn these violations to the peace, tranquility and life of our communities with kidnappings, detentions, arrests and deportations that exceed what is acceptable, legal, and necessary,” the activist told EFE.
DHS initially said it had detained the citizen for threatening agents with a hammer, but has not presented evidence of the allegations.
As of Thursday, the father remains detained by federal authorities and the girl was handed over to her mother.
Filed under: ICE takes away car with baby in it
With information from EFE
