Neighbors are concerned after a Southern California man said he was reportedly taken to a federal immigration agent while his two gardeners were working outside his home.
On Thursday morning, Christopher Ames said his gardener was mowing the lawns outside his home on Fifth Avenue and Boulder Avenue in Ontario.
His neighbor, who had witnessed the man being detained, immediately warned him of the incident.
“They left the mower running on the grass in front of them,” Ames said. “They threw my gardener’s phone at them. [work truck]with the car keys, I just took off, leaving everything open. ”
A neighbor who learned of the arrest said they were a bit unsettled.
“I think that’s wrong,” Ames told KTLA’s Sandra Mitchell. “This is not the way we treat people, and not the way this country should act.”
Christopher Ames tells KTLA after two gardeners were reportedly taken to federal immigration agents on June 19, 2025 while working outside their Ontario home. He reportedly mowed his lawn on June 19, 2025 and was taken to a federal immigration agent while working outside his Ontario home. Ontario Home (KTLA) June 19, 2025
Late Thursday night, a man named Lewis, one of the gardeners’ family, arrived at his Ontario home and brought the work truck back home.
Lewis said the two men were reportedly taken to agents along with the US Immigration Customs (ICE) and they were unable to contact them.
“They are my family and we live in fear,” he said.
A neighbor named Rose said she saw the arrest from her home across the street.
“I understand that people are just doing their jobs and people are here illegally,” she said. “I get the big picture, but I hope they had the opportunity to reach out to their families to be scooped up in that way.”
With the man’s cell phone left behind, Rose contacted his loved one to let him know he was detained and said he was concerned that he was in pain.
“As a mother and wife, if you’re hoping someone will come home and they won’t come home and I have no way to reach them or find them, that’s the scary part,” she said.
The family said they didn’t know where the two men would be held and wanted to contact them immediately.
Authorities did not comment on the gardener’s specific incident, but the Ontario Police Department confirmed with KTLA that ice agents had conducted operations in Ontario on Thursday morning.
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