Immigration advocates have denounced a cell phone video captured Monday in Orange County, with apparent federal agents taking down a man on the sidewalk.
Scarlett Soberanis, 14, who recorded the video, says his mother and sister came from lunch on Monday morning and when the incident unfolded right in front of them.
In the video, three women breathe in disbelief as they see what appears to be customs and border patrol agents making sprints towards the man near the intersection of Westminster Boulevard and Euclidean. The official then grabs the man and throws it to the ground.
“I felt my blood boil, I was feeling a wave of emotions,” Soberanis said.
The Soberanis family doesn’t know the man, and NBC4 is still trying to identify him and learn more about why he was taken into custody.
Soberanis says she is angry and heartbroken to see who is being treated like that.
“They were walking down the street because they didn’t do anything and I think they’re realising that it’s wrong to be the people we’re dealing with, especially people of color,” Soberanis said.
The takedown happened around the corner from Viterise, a community and immigration advocacy group that shared the Soberanis video.
“We know that Vietnamese people are deeply affected by the threat of deportation and detention, and we are in solidarity with our Latino neighbours who endure the same kind of unfair enforcement.”
Vietrise is one of several advocacy groups currently patrolling their neighborhoods to warn the community about immigration enforcement.
“We are telling people to communicate with their families and neighbors, so we can be in a network that keeps each other safe,” Vu said.
Soberanis says she posted a video of her to document what she saw.
“I think my videos made a difference because this is what’s going on and it’s not just the stories that people are making. It’s happening in real life and that’s happening now,” Soberanis said.
She says her parents are too afraid to leave the house.
I’m the daughter of undocumented people, it’s scary to know you can’t even go out now,” Soberanis said. It’s a very scary time. ”
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