This Sunday, Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a 62-year-old man who has lived in the U.S. for over 50 years, The Mercury News reported.
Jose Luis Garcia was detained by ICE agents at his home in California’s San Fernando Valley while he was watering his lawn. Speaking to The Mercury News, his daughter Natalie Garcia said she woke up to the sound of her father yelling her name, only to go outside and see 8 agents swarming him.
Garcia tried to get more information and asked to see the arrest warrant and if they had read him his rights. She said the agents responded rudely, did not answer most of her questions, and told her they did not have to show her the warrant. They told her that it was not a criminal warrant, but an administrative one.
“I didn’t know they were ICE at that moment,” Natalie Garcia said. “It just happened so fast and there were so many of them. I was so confused.”
According to the report, 18 years ago Garcia was convicted for a misdemeanor related to a domestic violence situation with his daughter’s mother. Natalie Garcia pointed out that he had served his sentence and the matter was put behind them.
In a statement to The Mercury News, ICE said that records show Garcia “has past criminal convictions that make him amenable to removal from the United States.”
“Mr. Garcia is currently in ICE custody pending removal proceedings, where an immigration judge with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) will determine whether or not he has a lawful basis to remain in the United States,” the statement read.
His daughter said he’s being held in a detention facility and “is obviously devastated and in shock right now.”
The arrest comes after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announcement that the U.S. would no longer grant asylum to victims of gang violence and domestic abuse.
Featured image via Garcia Family
