ICE agents detain mother in Pasadena in front of children without showing a warrant (and the mother wasn’t who they were looking for — 3 masked men just jumped out of a car and grabbed her)
A mother walking with her children in Pasadena was taken into custody by immigration agents over the weekend in an incident that was partially captured on video and has drawn sharp criticism from witnesses.
Rosalina Luna Vargas, a mother of two and the primary breadwinner for her family, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on Saturday morning around 8 a.m., according to bystanders. Her children were present at the time of the incident, which took place in broad daylight in the corner of Catalina and Del Mar.
The encounter was recorded by Jillian Reed, a Caltech alum and local resident, who was driving by when she noticed a commotion on the sidewalk.
In the footage she captured, three individuals in plain clothes—two of whom were masked and wore badges on lanyards—can be seen attempting to force Vargas into an unmarked Honda Accord. A third man, appearing younger and without any visible identification, also participated.
“I saw the commotion while driving, and when I slowed down, the kids shouted for help,” Reed said. “They kept asking for a warrant. They told the officers they would stop resisting if they just showed them a warrant. One of the men said he had one but didn’t show it.”
The video cuts off just as Vargas’s daughter pleads with Reed to call the police. According to Reed, she did call 911, reporting what she believed at the time to be a possible kidnapping.
As the situation escalated, Vargas allegedly broke free from the agents and ran into the courtyard of the nearby Del Mar Park Assisted Living Facility, with her children following close behind. The agents pursued, but were confronted again by the children, who physically tried to shield their mother.
“They formed a human wall,” Reed said. “One of the kids clung to her, telling her, ‘Don’t let go! Don’t let go!’ while crying. Then he started shouting to the crowd, ‘I can’t lose my mom!’”
Reed said the staff at the assisted living facility intervened, telling the agents they were on private property and could not proceed without a warrant. The agents, she said, took photos of everyone present—including Reed—before leaving in two separate vehicles.
Pasadena police later arrived and took statements from those at the scene. According to Reed, ICE agents returned later and took Vargas into custody.
A family member told Reed the warrant in question was for someone else entirely, and that Vargas and her children had simply been “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Community members say the incident highlights growing concerns over ICE’s arrest tactics and the lack of transparency in operations conducted in public areas without coordination with local law enforcement.
Reed, still shaken, called the incident “horrific” and questioned whether law enforcement procedures were followed.
“Only two of the three men had badges, and none were in uniform,” she said. “I didn’t know if I was witnessing a hate crime or a kidnapping. And because they might have been law enforcement, I wasn’t even sure whether to call the police.”
ICE has not publicly released details about the arrest, including the charges or the identity of the agents involved.
The incident comes as federal immigration enforcement actions have intensified in parts of Southern California, prompting backlash in immigrant communities and renewed debate about due process, civil rights, and the rights of children in enforcement situations.
ICE agents detain mother in Pasadena in front of children without showing a warrant
A mother walking with her children in Pasadena was taken into custody by immigration agents over the weekend in an incident that was partially captured on video and has drawn sharp criticism from w…
Freedom of the press and civil rights groups are rallying around a journalist who was put in immigration custody after being arrested while covering a protest in Atlanta, warning that his detention could chill press freedoms and put noncitizen journalists at risk.
Mario Guevara, an independent digital journalist who reports in Spanish, has been held for a week after law enforcement officials turned him over to Immigration and Custom Enforcement.
Guevara has authorization to live and work in the U.S., his attorney, Giovanni Diaz, told The Associated Press. Guevara also has an application pending with the Department of Homeland Security for legal permanent residency, sponsored by an adult son who is a U.S. citizen, the attorney said.
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Guevara was arrested June 14 while livestreaming a “No Kings” protest against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies in the Embry Hills neighborhood near Atlanta.
Backlash after ICE detains journalist covering ‘No Kings’ immigration protests
Press groups are calling for the release of Mario Guevara, an independent journalist who faces deportation after he was arrested and charged with misdemeanors while covering a protest.
Border czar Tom Homan has revealed that he’s living away from his wife because of death threats he’s receiving.
“I spent a lot of time with my boys growing up, but as I got more and more — climbed the ladder of what I’ve done with ICE director and now back — I don’t see my family very much,” Homan told Post columnist Miranda Devine during an interview airing Wednesday on her new podcast, “Pod Force One.”
Glad to hear that the piece of human detritus is experiencing at least a little bit of the fear and anxienty that he and his cronies inflict on thousands of American immigrants.
Exclusive | Border czar Tom Homan tells ‘Pod Force One’ he’s living apart from his wife over death threats
“I see her as much as I can, but the death threats against me and my family are outrageous,” Homan told Post columnist Miranda Devine on her new podcast “Pod Force One.”
However, Delegate Mike Jones (D-Richmond), who represents parts of Chesterfield County, said ICE hasn’t provided any evidence to show that those who were arrested were actually violent criminals.
“They’re just dressed in basic clothes, but then they’re snatching people,” Jones said. “What type of message is that to send in America?”
Jones added that ICE is striking fear into the community, something that may lead to immigrants not reporting criminal activity or refusing to show up to courts for any reason.
“They will remain silent, and that just means they are opening themselves up to be targeted even more,” Jones said.
Virginia lawmakers react to ICE arrests at the Chesterfield County Courthouse
ICE facilities across the US are holding significantly more people than normal capacity
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is continuing to arrest an increasing number of immigrants without any criminal history, according to recent federal government data reviewed by the Guardian, demonstrating a further dramatic surge in this trend.
The latest available data, released by ICE last Friday, appears to contradict Trump administration officials’ frequent assertions that the agency is prioritizing the pursuit of criminals in its immigration enforcement operations.
“Our number one concern is violent criminals,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which houses Ice, said on TV in an interview with PBS last week.
In mid-June, ICE data shows there were more than 11,700 people in immigration detention who had been arrested by ICE despite having no track record of being charged with or convicted of a crime. That represents a staggering 1,271% increase from data released on those in immigration detention immediately before the start of Trump’s second term.
Trump drives surge in Ice detentions of those with no criminal record despite stated priorities
Ice facilities across the US are holding significantly more people than normal capacity
Last week, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the administration’s “No. 1 concern” while carrying out its aggressive immigration raids was going after “violent criminals.” Compare that statement to this new headline from The Guardian: “Trump drives surge in ICE detentions of those with no criminal record despite stated priorities.”
“In mid-June, ICE data shows there were more than 11,700 people in immigration detention who had been arrested by ICE despite having no track record of being charged with or convicted of a crime,” the Guardian reported. “That represents a staggering 1,271% increase from data released on those in immigration detention immediately before the start of Trump’s second term.”
The driving force behind that staggering increase is likely none other than White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, one of the architects behind Donald Trump’sfamily separation policy in his first term and who, in Trump 2.0, seems to be eerily obsessed with undocumented immigrants.
Last month, Miller reportedly gave Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers marching orders to start conducting mass arrests, according to The Wall Street Journal, which spoke to people familiar with the meeting. During that meeting, Miller allegedly told agents to target places like Home Depot, where migrant day laborers typically gather. Soon, ICE agents appeared to follow Miller’s advice and conducted a sweep at a Home Depot in Los Angeles.
He was also one of the people who, according to Axios, which spoke to two sources familiar with another meeting the deputy chief of staff had with ICE, demanded that the agency round up 3,000 people a day.
Miller is reportedly the architect of that and so much more of Trump’s hard-line immigration policy, and while his anti-immigration fervor may be scratching some racist ideological itch, we learned Tuesday that it may also be making him money.
A new report from the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO, a nonpartisan nonprofit government watchdog group, found that, according to Miller’s recently released financial disclosures, he just so happens to own a significant stake — up to $250,000 — in the data analytics company Palantir, a company which stands to make millions of dollars off of Trump’s immigration crackdown.
According to public records reported by The New York Times, since Trump took office, Palantir has received more than $113 million in federal spending, and it stands to receive at least $795 million more. Right now, as POGO pointed out, Palantir is already the highest performing company in the S&P 500 this year, with its stock price rising by more than 80% in 2025 so far.
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Miller’s Palantir stock is technically in a brokerage account for one of his young children but, as POGO pointed out, “that does not legally matter, according to the Office of Government Ethics, which says “an asset that is owned by a spouse or minor child is analyzed under 18 U.S.C. § 208 [the criminal conflict of interest law] as if the employee owns it.”
Jen Psaki: The architect of Trump’s immigration policy could be profiting off ICE’s cruelty
While Stephen Miller’s anti-immigration fervor may be scratching an ideological itch, on Tuesday, we learned it may also be making him money.
A 30-year-old woman in Alabama, married to an immigrant from Iran, said that her family no longer supports President Trump after ICE detained her husband.
“We believed in his [Trump’s] immigration policies and were completely blindsided and truly believed that only criminals were being detained,” Morgan said to Newsweek.
Morgan’s husband, 26-year-old Ribvar Karimi, was one of 11 Iranian nationals detained by ICE as part of a round-up on Sunday by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Yup, joke’s on you! Never trust a scumbag with 6 bankruptcies and 34 felony convictions.
‘I supported Trump to let ICE deport criminals – they came for my husband’
Morgan Karimi said that her family no longer supports President Trump despite previously supporting him after he detained her husband.
The report also found that during recent raids in Los Angeles 72% of ICE arrestees in the area had no criminal convictions, and 59% had no criminal history or pending charges
A new report has revealed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is arresting noncriminal immigrants on the streets at historically high rates, with arrests of such individuals soaring by nearly 1,100% since 2017.
Citing newly released nonpublic data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by DeportationData.org, the Cato Institute reports that by early June 2025, ICE agents were arresting nearly 3,800 non-criminal immigrants per week outside of custodial settings—such as homes, workplaces, and public spaces—compared to 308 per week during the same period in 2017.
Overall, nearly 5,000 weekly “at-large” ICE arrests were being made in early June, up from 856 in June 2017. Of those, 79% targeted individuals with no criminal convictions. The data analyzed by Cato also indicates that 47% of ICE arrestees during the week of June 1–9 had neither a conviction nor any pending criminal charges.
Street Arrests of Immigrants Without Criminal History by ICE Have Soared 1,100% Since 2017: Study
ICE is arresting noncriminal immigrants on the streets at historically high rates, with arrests of such individuals soaring by nearly 1,100% since 2017.
An ICE spokesperson said, “This criminal alien should never have been roaming the streets of Los Angeles. Not only is he a member of the ruthless Surenos gang, but he also has multiple convictions for murder, assault, and rape or sexual abuse of a minor.”
Wow! Golly gee! You finally caught one of the 6% of real criminals that you are supposed to be catching!
Roberto Carlos Munoz-Guatemala, with a history of sex crimes and assault, was arrested after dragging an ICE officer while fleeing in his vehicle.
And a rapist, too. So far you caught only 11% of them.
If you actually concentrated on catching the murderers and rapists instead of masking up and disappearing families from the streets and neighborhods, you wouldn’t have such a godawful PR problem. Unfortunately, like most pigs, you’re too stupid to learn.
ICE Reports Major Arrest — Slams Biden-Era Decision
After six months of aggressive immigration enforcement and promises to focus on deporting violent criminals, the Trump administration has arrested and detained a small fraction of the undocumented immigrants already known to Immigration and Customs Enforcement as having been convicted of sexual assault and homicide, internal ICE data obtained by NBC News shows.
The data is a tally of every person booked by ICE from Oct. 1 through May 31, part of which was during the Biden administration. It shows a total of 185,042 people arrested and booked into ICE facilities during that time; 65,041 of them have been convicted of crimes. The most common categories of crimes they committed were immigration and traffic offenses.
Almost half of the people currently in ICE custody have neither been convicted of nor charged with any crime, other ICE data shows.
But they’re not capturing and deporting the great majority of serious criminals — most illegal-immigrant murderers and rapists are still on the loose:
The new data obtained by NBC News shows that from Oct. 1 to May 31, ICE arrested 752 people convicted of homicide and 1,693 people convicted of sexual assault, meaning that at the absolute most, the Trump administration has detained only 6% of the undocumented immigrants known to ICE to have been convicted of homicide and 11% of those known to ICE to have been convicted of sexual assault.
Despite promise to remove ‘worst of the worst,’ ICE has arrested only 6% of known immigrant murderers
ICE told Congress in September that over 13,000 immigrants known to have committed murder remained at large. Since then, only 752 have been arrested.
