Masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents broke the arm of a U.S. citizen during a detention attempt Saturday in Long Beach, California, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said Sunday.

Ricardo Gonzalez, a former Long Beach city employee, was found handcuffed, bleeding and being detained by several ICE officers when local authorities arrived at the scene, according to a statement from the Long Beach Police Department.

Videos of the encounter taken by bystanders appeared to show Gonzalez lying face down in a gutter while several ICE agents kneeled on his back. In several videos, Gonzalez is heard yelling repeatedly, “Help me, my arm is broken,” and “Call a paramedic.”

Gonzalez’s daughter, Leslie Gonzalez, said her father was “struck by an unmarked vehicle of federal agents while riding his E-Bike.” He was then tased twice and pinned to the ground, according to her description on a GoFundMe page created to help with her father’s medical expenses.

“ICE agents brutally attacked and broke the arm of a North Long Beach resident and U.S. citizen,” Garcia, whose district includes Long Beach and parts of Orange County, wrote in a statement Sunday posted to X. “The videos are horrific and should concern not just our community but the country.”

Long Beach police said in a statement Monday to MS NOW that officers arrived after receiving a request for emergency assistance from the ICE officers due to “vehicle vandalism taking place and a subject in need of medical aid.”

According to police, officers saw “a large group disturbance involving the ICE agents” and a man in handcuffs who was bleeding.

“First responders from the Long Beach Fire Department took the man to a nearby fire station,” according to the statement. There, Gonzalez’s handcuffs were removed, and he was taken to a hospital.

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s requests for comment Monday.

Police officers cleared a crowd of protesters who had gathered near the scene Sunday.

Gonzalez is believed to have been one of several community members who called 911 when he “saw a circumstance escalating,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson told CNN in a statement Sunday.

“When the police arrived, we know that he was detained. He was on a curb. He was injured,” Richardson said.

The incident drew outcry over the federal agency’s frequent use of force, which has often turned violent.

In a statement released on social media, Richardson said, “ICE doesn’t belong in our city and this activity undermines community safety and public trust.”

The situation involving Gonzalez is among the latest in a series of violent incidents and high-profile killings that have roiled the federal immigration agency. An ICE agent was placed on leave earlier this month after striking an undocumented immigrant with his vehicle in Houston.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit on Oct. 15 alleging ICE agents were unconstitutionally taking people into custody near state courthouses. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani demanded ICE end its operations in the city after an agent shot and wounded a Dominican man earlier this month while trying to arrest him as his 5-year-old child sat in the backseat.

Scores of high-profile national Democrats have demanded that the immigration agency be abolished in the wake of the deadly shootings of two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this year.

“I’m proud of the neighbors who documented and stood up for the family being terrorized by ICE,” Garcia wrote in his statement Sunday. “Donald Trump and his inhumane and illegal deportation machine must be stopped. Long Beach stands with our community and our immigrant families. ICE is not welcome in Long Beach. Abolish ICE.”

The post ICE agents break arm of U.S. citizen during violent California detention appeared first on MS NOW.

Author: Source Author

From MS Now.