The violent arrest of another man in an apparent immigration-enforcement operation in Santa Ana — where masked agents also used batons to take down a bystander who attempted to intervene — was again raising questions about tactics employed during the ongoing deportation campaign.
The latest arrest, captured on cell phone video by witnesses and first aired by KTLA5, shows what appear to be masked federal agents tackling and arresting a man near Warner Avenue and Main Street around 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Video shows the man being pinned to the ground by at least two masked people, one of whom is seen pepper-spraying the man in the face.
The video also shows two other men approaching the agents in an apparent attempt to intervene, and at least four masked people take one of the me to the ground. One of the masked apparent agents repeatedly strikes the man with a baton.
KTLA reported Monday that the two bystanders are brothers, and the man who was struck with the baton was later treated at a hospital.
That man and the original person who was detained where then both placed into a vehicle and driven away.
Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua told KTLA Monday morning the video of the arrest, “makes me angry. It makes me very angry.”
She said the treatment of the man being detained is “inhumane.”
“They look like they are inexperienced and untrained federal agents,” Amezcua said. “… Where are the coming from and who are they?”
The arrest occurred about a week after another high-profile detention in Santa Ana, in which a gardener named Narciso Barranco — father to three sons who served in the U.S. Marines — was taken into custody by masked agents who tackled him and struck him several times.
After video of the arrest was widely circulated on local media, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security posted its own video online and said the man assaulted federal agents with a “weed whacker.” The video shows Barranco wielding the weed whacker, briefly pointing it toward one of the agents. It was unclear if any of them were actually struck with the equipment, which is later seen on the ground as Barranco is being taken into custody.
“He assaulted federal law enforcement with a weed whacker,” according to the DHS post. “Perhaps the mainstream media would like our officers to stand there and be mowed down instead of defending themselves? What a completely slanted portrayal of what actually happened.”