Ice holds an American citizen in Los an

The family of a 32 -year -old American citizen said that she was wrongly detained by agents of the application of immigration and customs and wrongly accused of having “forcefully obstructed” officers during an immigration raid in Downtown Los Angeles Tuesday morning.

Andrea Velez appeared on Thursday before a federal court accused of attacked a federal officer while he was trying to arrest a suspect and was released on bail of $ 5,000. She did not plead and must be returned to court on July 17.

The arrest comes as ice and other federal agents have stopped thousands of people, many of which have not committed any crime. President Donald Trump has promised an aggressive immigration and mass deportation application as part of his campaign platform.

Velez’s sister, Estrella Rosas, and their mother saw the incident take place for a few moments after having dropped off at the 9th and Main Street, where she works as a marketing designer. Rosas said that she had seen police officers throw out on the ground, then put it in an unmarked vehicle.

“We have dropped off my sister to go to work as we always do. Suddenly, my mother in the rear view mirror, she saw how a man went to her. said to NBC Los Angeles.

Rosas recorded it and his mother’s reaction while looking at the arrest. “It’s my sister. They take her. Help her, someone. He’s an American citizen,” said Rosas in the video.

The Union del Barrio group, which supports the Latin American and Mexican communities, Video published on Instagram This shows four officers holding someone on the ground on the scene.

Tricia McLaughlin, deputy secretary of public affairs at the Ministry of Internal Security, said in a statement that Velez had been arrested to “hinder an arrest after having forcefully obstructed an ice officer by establishing physical contact with him”.

Luis Hipolito was also arrested at the same time for allegedly assaulted an ice officer, she said. McLaughlin said he and Velez “prevented ice forces from arresting the illegal foreigner target of their operation”.

“Secretary Noem has been clear: if you put your hand on an agent of the police, you will be prosecuted to the best extent of the law,” said McLaughin. It added, without citing evidence or a delay, that ice officers are faced with a 500% increase in attacks.

A criminal complaint alleys that Velez “entered the path of an officer and extended one of his arms in an apparent effort to prevent him from crêper a male suspect whom he was pursuing and that the tense arm of Velez struck this officer in the face.”

But Velez and his family dispute this and plan to launch a civil prosecution against federal officers.

“Andrea is the victim of excessive use of force by federal agents, they were not allowed to stop it and not the right to beat it. What you see in videos is police brutality”, Luis Carillo, the lawyer for Velez, said to NBC Los Angeles.

The LAPD said that it had been called to the scene in response to a report of an abduction in progress by individuals who do not identify, but the officers arrived to find a federal operation. The police said that he had no prior knowledge of the operation and that if the crowd had become “increasingly agitated”, they did not arrest.

The declaration mentioned the arrest of a woman, considered to be Velez, but did not mention it by name or mentioned no alleged assault.

“At one point, a partially handcuffed woman approached and was held near an officer of the LAPD. After several minutes, a federal agent approached and took control of the woman. LAPD was not involved in her detention or her arrest,” said the police statement.

Rosas, who is also an American citizen, said that his older sister graduated from Cal Poly and never had a problem with the law.

“When I saw the videos, they made me feel really upset,” she said. “I am an American citizen, my sister is American citizen and we have rights and they have violated her rights, so that does not make me feel safe that they will protect or respect my rights.”