A Los Angeles-born woman who was arrested by federal officers during an immigration raid earlier this summer recounted the experience she said left a lasting impact on her.
Andrea Velez said she was left traumatized after she was slammed to the ground by agents and endured rough conditions while in custody. She shared that she still gets flashbacks to that day and has been working from home since her release because of her trauma.
“I’m taking things day by day,” she said.
Velez, a U.S. citizen, works in downtown Los Angeles as a production coordinator for a shoe company. She said that on June 24, her mother and sister had just dropped her off at work. Nearby, federal agents were present.
“It was like a scene,” she said. “They were just ready to attack and chase.”
At some point, Velez said she felt a man grab and slam her to the floor. She tried to tell the agent, who was in plain clothes, that she is a U.S. citizen.
“He said I was interfering with what he was doing, so he was going to arrest me,” she said. “That’s when I asked him to show me his ID, his badge number. I asked him if he had a warrant and he said I didn’t need to know any of that.”
Velez said as officers processed her into a detention center in downtown Los Angeles, she again tried to tell them that she was a U.S. citizen and did nothing wrong.
“They didn’t believe me, so I gave them my real ID and driver’s license, and even my Kaiser health insurance card,” she said.
The Montecito Heights resident spent a total of two days in the detention center. She said she wasn’t given any water for 24 hours.
After being released, the Department of Justice dismissed her case with prejudice, meaning her case is temporarily closed. A spokesperson from the department declined to comment.
Velez’s attorneys are now exploring legal action against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.