An American citizen is speaking after she said she was wrongly detained by immigration agents in the center of Los Angeles.
On June 24, Andrea Velez, 32, was dropped at work by her family near Street 9 and Spring.
I just got out of the car when suddenly, surrounded by ICE and customs enforcement agents (ICE), forced it to the ground and put it on the handcuffs.
“I was just working and everything happened very quickly,” she recalls. “They did not introduce themselves, so I was afraid.”
Her family was close when they saw Velez treatment on the ground. A video of the feverish scene showed a large crowd of passers -by gathered on the site as officers Velez and others took.
According to the family lawyer, when Velez’s mother and sister of her sister saw two masked men trying to take her while walking, they immediately called the police.
Andrea Velez, 32, who is an American and southern Los Angeles citizen, was forced suddenly on the ground and detained by immigration agents while she was walking in the center of Los Angeles on June 24, 2025. (Uniondeelbarrio) Andrea Velez, 32, who is an American and southern Los Angeles citizen, was forced suddenly on the ground and detained by immigration agents while she was walking in the center of Los Angeles on June 24, 2025. (Uniondeelbarrio) ICE enforcement agents (ICE) was seen in the United States holding people in the center of Los Angeles on June 24, 2025. (UnionDelbarrio)
LAPD officers responded to the scene, instead of helping Veles, her family claimed that they formed a human shield to prevent spectators from recording their concerns about the activity.
“I have bruises on my body,” said Velez. One of [the agents] Pay me to the ground. “
Witnesses claimed that the agents did not ask anyone from identity or prove citizenship, and did not provide their own identity.
A video of passers -by showed an agent that put VELEZ in the unique SUV before it was expelled. For 24 hours, her family was unable to contact her or locate her until videos began on the raid on social media.
Her family lawyer is finally followed. With the help of her family, advocates of society and lawyers, she was eventually released on Wednesday evening.
Velez, a marketing designer in South Los Angeles, is a marketing designer and graduate of Cal Pomeonna. Her family said they were ignoring the accident.
Ice officials claimed that Velez was arrested on charges of attacking an agent and tried to prevent them from arresting the person they were already targeting. Gregory Russell, Veliz’s lawyer, refutes these allegations.
“They claim that Mrs. Veles attacked an ice officer,” Russell said. “Imagine now this-I just slipped at work. You walk on the sidewalk and a 6-foot man in a full shield and weapons, with his face protected, starts to ship you. This is what you lived. Now, who committed the attack here?”
Feliz said she was afraid of her life when she was suddenly seized by agents. She believed that Ice was targeting a Latin and Latin people with her at that time, but she did not realize what was happening until it was interrogated later.
She said, “They just told me that I was arrested to reproduce or resist arrest.” “I don’t think I was. I was resisting because I didn’t know where I would end or who was taking me.”
Velez said that the ordeal left her and her family was afraid and shook. She said that she was simply walking to work and did nothing to justify the violent treatment she endured.
She said, “I am Latina, so I’m sure I was accompanied by racists.”
KTLA has communicated with the enforcement of immigration and customs in the United States to clarify the Velez case and whether it will face any charges and await the response.