A vigil will be held Friday evening at a Monrovia Home Depot store that was the scene of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid that city officials say prompted a man to flee onto the Foothill (210) Freeway, where he was fatally struck by an SUV.
According to a statement by Monrovia City Manager Dylan Feik, Monrovia police responded shortly before 10 a.m. Thursday to a call about an ICE action at The Home Depot at 1625 Mountain Ave. During that action, a man fled on foot across Evergreen Avenue and onto the 210 Freeway and was struck by a vehicle near Myrtle Avenue, according to Feik and the California Highway Patrol.
CHP officials said the man was struck by a Ford Expedition SUV being driven by a 51-year-old man at 50 to 60 mph. The man suffered major injuries and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the CHP.
The man’s name was not officially released, but acquaintances identified him to ABC7 as Carlos Roberto Montoya, 52, a father who was working to raise money to send to his family in Guatemala.
The Guatemalan consulate in Los Angeles told the station in a statement it “regrets this sad event and is currently in contact with the family, providing the necessary assistance.”
Protesters staged a rally on Thursday at the scene of the ICE raid to express outrage over the death and to call for an end to the continued immigration enforcement operations taking place in and around Los Angeles.
The National Day Laborer Organizing Network will hold a rally at The Home Depot store at 6 p.m. Friday in memory of the man who died.
“The worker was fleeing an unannounced raid by immigration agents, the latest in an ongoing wave of violent, chaotic kidnappings and assaults that ICE and other agencies are waging at Home Depots and other locations across Southern California,” according to a statement from the group.
On Thursday, state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Pasadena, issued a statement decrying the raids and referenced the death, which was in her district.
“President Trump’s terror campaign has taken another life,” she said, while also offering her condolences to the man’s family.
“There is such incredible fear in our immigrant communities, so much so that people will run into freeway traffic out of fear when all they want is a chance to support their family and seek the American Dream,”
Pérez called for an end to what she described as violent and sweeping.
“The Trump Administration is violating a federal court order by continuing to conduct deadly roving immigration raids within the area of the U.S. District Court’s Central District of California that includes Los Angeles County,” she stated. “These raids have been ruled to be illegal racial profiling by a federal judge and the Trump Administration has been ordered to comply with a temporary restraining order.”
Pérez has been an advocate for comprehensive immigration law reform.
“How many more brown-skinned people have to die before the president will obey the law?” she asked. “There is a better way. Comprehensive immigration reform that both parties work on is the only solution. I renew my call to pursue this path and stop the terror.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly defended the work of ICE agents, denying allegations that operations are carried out randomly.
“Every single one of our ICE and Border Patrol operations is built on information, on investigative work,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday during an appearance on Fox News when asked about a downtown Los Angeles raid conducted outside a building where Gov. Gavin Newsom was holding a news conference.
She said ICE agents conduct operations at specific locations “because of who they think could be in that area and what they have for information that shows there are illegal criminals there. Remember we’re focusing on the worst of the worst.”
The CHP was continuing its investigation into the circumstances surrounding how and why the pedestrian ran onto the freeway, according to a CHP statement. Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact Officer J. Rosas, during business hours, at 626-517-8500.