Community members are demanding answers after they say a woman was taken to the hospital after an immigration enforcement operation in Ladera Heights.<\/p>\n
The operation happened at a Home Depot on Slauson Avenue on Saturday morning. Witnesses tell NBC4 the woman was monitoring an immigration enforcement operation when she was detained and then taken to a hospital.<\/p>\n
Witness video from a Ladera Heights Home Depot this morning shows a woman screaming as she is detained by federal agents. At one point, she identifies herself as an American.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me go. I am an American who was born here,” the woman is heard yelling. She is also heard pleading for someone to call her family and a lawyer, giving out her name. \u201cMy name is Rachel Simon. I am an American citizen. I was born here. Please.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s still unclear what led up to the confrontation. Witnesses say she is a member of the HILL Network, a community immigration defense group, and that she was monitoring the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe goes there to protect day laborers. Twice a week, she’s there,” said Quetzal, a community organizer.<\/p>\n
On social media, the group said a woman named Rachel S. was injured and detained by federal agents at that same Home Depot and then was transported to Cedars Sinai in Marina del Rey.<\/p>\n
Hours later, demonstrators gathered at the hospital, demanding answers. A statement from the hospital confirmed federal agents were present after being at a nearby business, but offered no details on why.<\/p>\n
“We are aware that federal agents were seen at Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital following activity at a nearby place of business. We cannot comment on patient care due to state and federal privacy laws,” wrote Cedar-Sinai in a statement to NBC4.<\/p>\n
The LAPD was also at the hospital and said officers initially responded to reports of masked men, but once they saw they were federal agents, they backed off.<\/p>\n
Pedro, a day laborer who did not want to be identified, says he saw five SUVs arrive with about 20 federal agents and detained about eight people.<\/p>\n
His account echoes the concerns of community organizers who say operations like this have a devastating impact on families\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople need to know that these are real lives. That they have families, that they are destroying families in half,” said Quetzal.<\/p>\n
NBC4 has reached out to DHS for information on the operation. The federal agency has acknowledged the request but has yet to respond.<\/p>\n
Details on the woman’s condition were not immediately available. According to the HILL Network, the woman was released from custody; it’s unclear if she will face any charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Community members are demanding answers after they say a woman was taken to the hospital after an immigration…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":260443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,409,2961,224,6080,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-260442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-immigration","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-los-angeles-county","14":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115280070853783645","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}