Immigration enforcement agents on Wednesday grabbed more than a dozen people outside a Los Angeles Home Depot in a "Trojan Horse" raid, despite a court ordering them to stop using roving patrols that rights groups say amount to racial profiling.
The raid, in which agents sprang from the back of a rented moving truck, was filmed by embedded journalists from Fox News.
Footage showed agents – including one wearing a white cowboy hat – jumping out of the truck and racing towards a group that appeared to be largely Latino.
Gregory Bovino, Commander of Operations for the US Border Patrol in California, re-tweeted the clip, adding the title "Operation Trojan Horse", a reference to the large wooden horse used in Greek mythology to take the city of Troy by surprise.
"For those who thought Immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again," acting US Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X after the raid.
"The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government."
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Fox News said a total of 16 people were ultimately taken into custody, with many of them being placed in the rear of the same van.
The outlet cited Department of Homeland Security officials saying the MS-13 gang has a "chokehold" on the area.
Day labourers frequently gather in and around the parking lots of hardware stores in the hope of picking up casual work.
One man who was there told the Los Angeles Times the raid had unfolded before 7am (1400 GMT) when a truck that appeared to have been rented from vehicle company Penske pulled up in the parking lot.
A Spanish-speaking driver said he was looking for workers before masked agents jumped out of the back, sending people running.
"This is the worst feeling ever," the man told the paper.
'Serious concerns'
A spokesman for Penske said the company had been taken by surprise by the footage of the raid.
"Penske strictly prohibits the transportation of people in the cargo area of its vehicles under any circumstances," the spokesman said.
"The company was not made aware that its trucks would be used in today's operation and did not authorise this. Penske will reach out to DHS and reinforce its policy to avoid improper use of its vehicles in the future."
Wednesday's raid was one of the most high-profile operations in Los Angeles since a federal court in July ordered a halt to the "roving patrols" carried out by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) as part of President Donald Trump's plan to deport thousands of undocumented migrants.
A three-judge panel last week denied a government appeal to overturn the order, after rights groups argued that the raids appeared to be arresting people largely based on their race.
Watch moreRaids, arrests and deportations: The economic toll of closed borders
The American Civil Liberties Union said "the evidence available so far" surrounding Wednesday's raid "raises serious concerns that the federal government may be in violation" of the order.
"Per that order, federal agents are prohibited from stopping and detaining people based solely on generalisations about how they look, how they speak, or where they are," said ACLU attorney Mohammad Tajsar, in a statement.
ICE raids around Los Angeles in early June sparked two weeks of unrest in the city, which is home to millions of migrants.
Read moreWhat ICE’s armed LA raids tell us about Trump’s plans for mass deportations
In response to the largely peaceful protests, Trump sent more than 4,700 troops to the city, despite objections from local politicians and law enforcement.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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