Protests erupted after a man died after being struck by a car on a Los Angeles freeway on Thursday as he fled an immigration raid conducted by federal agents at a Home Depot in Monrovia.
Democrats were quick to call out President Donald Trump and his immigration crackdown following the incident, which is being investigated by the California Highway Patrol.
“President Trump’s terror campaign has taken another life,” California Democratic State Senator Sasha Renée Pérez said in a statement.
“The bottom line is these violent, sweeping raids should not be happening,” she added. “The Trump Administration is violating a federal court order by continuing to conduct deadly roving immigration raids.”
“How many more brown-skinned people have to die before the President will obey the law?” she asked.
About 50 people came to the Home Depot at 6 p.m. with signs stating “ICE out of LA,” and waving Mexican flags.
“When Trump says get back, we say fight back,” they chanted, according to The Los Angeles Times. Home Depots have become sites where several immigration raids have been conducted amid the Trump administration’s crackdown.
Monrovia police received reports at 9.43 a.m. that Immigration and Customs Enforcement were conducting an operation at a Home Depot, City Manager Dylan Feik said in a statement.
One person fled and entered the 210 Freeway. Monrovia Fire & Rescue responded to a call at 9.52 a.m. regarding a vehicle collision with a pedestrian. The individual was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
“There is no ongoing ICE activity reported in Monrovia at this time, and the City has not received any communication or information from ICE,” said Feik. “While we understand community members want to know more about the incident, the information provided in this update is all the City has to provide at this time.”
However, in a statement to The New York Times, the Department of Homeland Security said the man was “not being pursued by any D.H.S. law enforcement.”
“We do not know their legal status,” the department said. “We were not aware of this incident or notified by California Highway Patrol until hours after operations in the area had concluded.”
The Independent has contacted ICE for comment.
Democratic Congresswoman Judy Chu took to X to slam the Trump administration following the deadly collision.
“His death is a result of the Trump administration’s strategy of sowing intimidation and fear throughout Los Angeles,” said Chu. “I will continue to demand accountability from ICE and stand up for the immigrant community.”
A day laborer told The LA Times that he goes to the Home Depot in Monrovia at 8 a.m. each day in the hope of finding work.
On Thursday, he heard people yelling, “immigration, run!” He managed to avoid being detained, but he was unable to help his friends.
“It feels horrible — I couldn’t do anything for them other than record what was happening,” he told the paper.
According to the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, 13 people were detained during the raid.
Motorist Vincent Enriquez told The LA Times that he saw the man just after he had been hit, and at that point, he was still alive.
“By the time I was passing by ... he must’ve been struck no more than a few minutes prior,” he said. “He was still moving.”
Monrovia resident and UCLA professor Robert Chao Romero said, “It just breaks my heart, because it’s just so inhumane.”
“These horrible, unjust ICE policies led to someone dying,” he added.
Another resident, Karen Suarez, told the paper she went to the Home Depot when she heard that a raid had been conducted there and encountered the daughter of the man who had died.
“She was visibly very upset, and she was going to go to the hospital and try to find out about her dad,” said Suarez. “I feel so bad for her. I feel so bad for the families. These are people trying to escape whatever horrible atrocities they came from for a better life.”
The United Farm Workers labor union called the incident “enraging and heartbreaking,” adding that it was “Another senseless death caused by a chaotic ICE operation.”
Another California Democrat, Rep. Gil Cisneros, wrote on X, “I’m horrified by the senseless ICE raids that took the life of yet another person in our community. These reckless and deadly ICE raids must end.”
Judge orders RFK Jr’s HHS to stop sharing Medicaid info with ICE
Failure of talks for plastic treaty turn focus back to reduce, reuse, recycle. How's that going?
ICE dropped nearly $1M on tricked-out trucks for rap video recruitment ad
Trump rolls out the red carpet for Putin as leaders ride to summit together
