The 54-year-old woman was splayed on the sidewalk with her shirt half-raised, unconscious. Nearby, federal immigration agents stood guard as people screamed at them.<\/p>\n
Arturo Hermosillo, a U.S. citizen, was in his work van, recording it all when an agent ordered him to back up to make room for an ambulance that was en route for the woman.<\/p>\n
As he was reversing, he said, another agent started banging on his window and side view mirror, pushing it in. He couldn\u2019t see behind him and felt a bump.<\/p>\n
Hermosillo opened his door to tell the agents he couldn\u2019t move. But not long after, they dragged him out of his van.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told them I didn\u2019t do anything illegal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hermosillo was arrested and sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown L.A. The woman, who later said she had fainted while an agent bear-hugged her to the point she struggled to breathe, underwent heart surgery at a Providence Holy Cross Medical Center. A doctor told her she had suffered a heart attack.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The immigration sweep on June 19, just outside of a Lowe\u2019s Home Improvement store, is one of many that have taken place in Southern California and encapsulates the <\/b>chaotic methods employed to detain people over the last month.<\/p>\n
(Myung J. Chun \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
The immigration sweep on June 19, just outside a Lowe\u2019s Home Improvement store, is one of many that have taken place in Southern California and encapsulates the chaotic methods employed to detain people over the last month. A federal judge on Friday ruled<\/a> that there was sufficient evidence that agents were using racial profiling to target people and ordered a halt to the indiscriminate sweeps, saying they violated the 4th Amendment.<\/p>\n Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in an email response to The Times that a person \u201crammed his vehicle into a law enforcement vehicle\u201d during the June 19 operation.<\/p>\n \u201cCBP Agents were also assaulted during the operation and verbally harassed … despite this, CBP arrested 30 illegal aliens in Hollywood and 9 illegal aliens in San Fernando and Pacoima,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n The Times sought clarification as to which operation involved the ramming of the federal vehicle, but neither McLaughlin nor the agency responded to the follow-up question.<\/p>\n Eyewitness videos, as well as interviews with Hermosillo and the 54-year-old woman, tell a different story and underscore the public\u2019s outrage and criticism of the immigration sweeps. <\/p>\n \u2018Virgin Mary, please help me, don\u2019t abandon me\u2019<\/p>\n Matilde, who declined to give her last name because of her immigration status, said she was selling tamales by the entrance of the parking lot shared by Lowe\u2019s and other businesses when the 54-year-old got word that federal immigration agents were in the area.<\/p>\n Matilde got nervous and began taking down her stand. She was about to put her umbrella away when a white car with tinted windows pulled up.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw two agents get out,\u201d she said in a phone interview. \u201cI didn\u2019t run.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the agent that ran to her never identified himself, provided a warrant or requested documentation of her immigration status. Instead, she said, he grabbed her from behind.<\/p>\n \u201cI could feel his vest against my ear,\u201d said Matilde, who is about 5 feet tall. \u201cI told him I couldn\u2019t breathe.\u201d<\/p>\n Matilde said she was selling tamales by the entrance of the parking lot shared by Lowe\u2019s and other businesses when the 54-year-old got word that federal immigration agents were in the area.<\/p>\n (Myung J. Chun \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n A second agent showed up to grab her hands to handcuff her. She said as they tried to do that one of the agents unintentionally lifted her shirt, exposing her bra. She reached to pull her shirt down and the agents used more force as if she were resisting.<\/p>\n What happened next is something Matilde can\u2019t fully recall.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if I fainted or if they threw me down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But she woke up on the ground and started to plea with agents.<\/p>\n \u201cI told them: I can\u2019t breathe, I can\u2019t breathe and that my chest hurts,\u201d she said. \u201cBut they didn\u2019t listen. They ignored me.\u201d<\/p>\n She said she looked up at the tree where she had a framed picture of the Virgin Mary and began to pray: \u201cVirgin Mary, please help me, don\u2019t abandon me. I don\u2019t want to die.\u201d<\/p>\n She said a third agent came and told her he was a paramedic, asking her if she had any medical conditions. She told him she suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes and that her chest was hurting.<\/p>\n He took her pulse before the agents dialed 911. She said the agents left her on the ground.<\/p>\n Videos taken by people at the scene and shared on social media show Matilde on the ground, unconscious and surrounded by agents. In another video, firefighters<\/a> are caring for her while a small crowd shame the agents for hurting the woman, especially those agents who appear to be Latinos.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have Latino blood,\u201d one woman yelled at the agents in Spanish.<\/p>\n \u201cDoes it feel good doing this?\u201d another woman screamed out.<\/p>\n \u2018They\u2019re not going to break me\u2019<\/p>\n As paramedics arrived to transport Matilde to the hospital, three federal agents were trying to drag Hermosillo out of his van. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n