A man yelled for help as a group of men – one of whom said he was with Immigration and Customs Enforcement – picked him up and pushed him into a car outside a Los Angeles courthouse Wednesday, video shows.
The detention has been condemned by the county’s top judge and the man’s lawyers, who said such operations will deter people from showing up to court.
Video obtained by the Los Angeles Times shows the man being carried away with his hands bound behind his back. Those detaining him are in plainclothes, and some are wearing masks. The detained man repeatedly screams, “Can you help me, please?” as his body flails.
The man is then pushed into the back seat of an unmarked car. It’s not clear where he was taken.
Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to CNN’s questions about whether ICE was involved in the detention or why the man was detained. But the incident happened as ICE increasingly make arrests at courthouses under recent guidance from the Trump administration.
Los Angeles County Superior Court’s presiding judge issued a critical statement in response to questions about Wednesday’s incident, saying such operations will have a negative effect on the judicial system.
“While the court is rarely notified of federal immigration enforcement activity occurring outside our courthouse, I am deeply disturbed by such actions,” the presiding judge, Sergio C. Tapia II, said in a release.
“These intimidating and unnecessary displays undermine public trust in the justice system, deter people from seeking justice, and send a dangerous message to immigrant communities that they are not safe to fully and freely participate in the legal process.”
In Wednesday’s video, an onlooker asks for the name of the man being detained, and he replies, “Steven Reyes.”
Court records show a man named Steven Reyes, who is represented by the Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender’s Office, had an appearance at the county’s criminal justice center Wednesday on a state felony charge of having or buying illegal drugs with the intent to sell them. Records show he had pleaded not guilty to the charge on July 31 and was free on his own recognizance.
The man detained in the video is represented by the Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender’s Office, spokesperson Jenny Cheng said. She did not confirm if the man detained is the same Steven Reyes with the drug charge.
“These alleged ICE agents, without a warrant or any explanation, clearly deprived our client of his liberty without due process,” Cheng said in an email to CNN.
“It shocks the conscience to see any human violently abducted by a group of mostly masked unidentified individuals. Such aggressive ICE abductions threaten the integrity of the court system and discourage participation.”
Wednesday’s detention happened outside the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, according to the Times and the LA Public Press, which told CNN it obtained the video from a witness and published a shorter, edited clip on social media.
In the longer video published by the Times, an onlooker asks one of the men detaining Reyes whether he is from ICE. The man responds, “yes.”
When further questioned by an onlooker, the man quickly flashes a badge twice. While the footage is too blurry to show exactly what the badge says, it resembles a Homeland Security Investigations badge.
The person who appears to be taking the video asks if the men have arrest warrants, and the men do not respond to that question.
CNN has reached out to ICE for information about the arrest, whether Reyes is in the country illegally, whether he is in ICE custody, where he is being held, and exactly what charges he faces.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security previously operated unde r guidelines that limited immigration enforcement at or near courthouses, but the Trump administration rescinded those guidelines shortly into the president’s second term. Masked law enforcement officers have been showing up at courthouses across the country to arrest migrants.
Trump officials have argued the previous guidance hampered the ability of immigration enforcement officers to apprehend people they say are dangerous individuals.
“The ability of law enforcement to make arrests of criminal illegal aliens in courthouses is common sense,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a May news release. “It conserves valuable law enforcement resources because they already know where a target will be. It is also safer for our officers and the community. These illegal aliens have gone through security and been screened to not have any weapons.”
Immigrant rights groups have said th e increasing number of courthouse arrests by ICE reflect a broader trend of enforcement extending into places once considered out of bounds and no longer confined to border crossings or work sites.
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting Reyes for the drug charge, said it had no prior knowledge of and played no part in Wednesday’s detention outside of court.
“Our ultimate goal is to seek justice for victims and hold criminals accountable,” the district attorney’s office wrote in a statement. “Detaining a defendant before the judicial process has concluded interferes with our ability to prosecute cases and is not to the advantage of the pursuit of justice.”
CNN’s Holly Yan, Caroll Alvarado and Sara Smart contributed to this report.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
