"Like a teenager armed with their first smartphone, President Trump's masked immigration enforcers love nothing more than to mug for friendly cameras. They gladly invite pseudo-filmmakers - some federal government workers, others conservative influencers or pro-Trump reporters - to embed during raids so they can capture every tamale lady agents slam onto the sidewalk, every protester they pelt with pepper balls, every tear gas canister used to clear away pesky activists."
"They're not highlighting the story of Jaime Alanís García, a Mexican farmworker who fell 30 feet to his death in Camarillo this summer while trying to escape one of the largest immigration raids in Southern California in decades. They're not making videos about 39-year-old Ismael Ayala-Uribe, an Orange County resident who moved to this country from Mexico as a 4-year-old and died in a Victorville hospital in September after spending weeks in ICE custody complaining about his health."
"They're not addressing how ICE raids led to the deaths of Josué Castro Rivera and Carlos Roberto Montoya, Central American nationals run over and killed by highway traffic in Virginia and Monrovia while fleeing in terror. Or what happened to Silverio Villegas González, shot dead in his car as he tried to speed away from two ICE agents in suburban Chicago."
Federal immigration enforcement agencies produce polished, media-friendly raid footage that highlights confrontational moments and portrays agents as heroic. The agencies selectively publicize dramatic scenes while omitting cases in which enforcement actions led to severe injury or death. In 2025 more than 20 people died in incidents tied to ICE operations, the deadliest year for the agency in two decades. Fatal cases include a farmworker who fell 30 feet while fleeing a Camarillo raid, a longtime resident who died after weeks in ICE custody, two people run over while fleeing enforcement, and a man shot while trying to escape agents.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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