DHS has not publicly commented on reason for detention
The confrontation unfolded Saturday in Long Beach, where federal agents detained Gonzalez during an encounter that also involved protesters. In an online fundraiser for her father’s medical expenses, his daughter Leslie wrote that he was knocked off his e-bike by an unmarked ICE vehicle.
“He was tased twice, pinned to the ground, and taken to the hospital for serious injuries,” the fundraiser said. “What ICE did was not right.”
Video of the encounter, reviewed by The Guardian, shows Gonzalez, identified as a former city employee, handcuffed and lying face-down in a gutter with ICE officers kneeling on his back. Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson told CNN on Sunday that Gonzalez had called emergency responders for help at one point. Richardson said: “When the police arrived, we know that he was detained. He was on a curb. He was injured.”
In a statement, the Long Beach Police Department said ICE personnel had also called for emergency assistance “due to vehicle vandalism taking place and a subject in need of medical aid.” Officers arrived to find “a large group disturbance” involving the federal agents, according to the statement.
“One officer located a handcuffed male adult, being detained by ICE, who was bleeding,” the Long Beach police statement said. “Officers transported the handcuffed injured man to a nearby fire station. There, LBPD personnel removed the handcuffs and LBFD personnel transported the man to the hospital for medical attention.”
The Long Beach Police Department said it was not involved in any immigration enforcement action and made no arrests. ICE agents who followed officers into a secure parking lot “were subsequently directed to leave the station,” the statement said. The police told the agents that any vandalism report would need to go through the city’s communications center.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, had not publicly commented on why Gonzalez was detained as of Sunday, The Guardian reported, noting that the department frequently portrays its agents’ actions as self-defense or protecting public safety. ICE did not respond to The Guardian’s request for comment.
Congressman Robert Garcia, a Democrat who represents Long Beach, wrote on X that he was disturbed by the encounter and called for the abolition of ICE. “ICE agents brutally attacked and broke the arm of a North Long Beach resident and US citizen,” he wrote. “The videos are horrific and should concern not just our community but the country. I’m proud of the neighbors who documented and stood up for the family being terrorized by ICE.” Garcia added: “Donald Trump and his inhumane and illegal deportation machine must be stopped. Long Beach stands with our community and our immigrant families.”
The Gonzalez episode is one of several recent violent and sometimes deadly encounters between federal officers and civilians during immigration enforcement operations under President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
A separate October 10 incident in Texas bore similar circumstances: an ICE agent driving an unmarked SUV ran over a man and broke his leg in three places. Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said he was considering bringing felony assault charges against the officer after video appeared to show the vehicle swerving into the man in a Houston-area parking lot.
At a Friday news conference, Houston-based advocacy group FIEL accused ICE of crashing into that man while searching for another individual who had died years earlier. A FIEL official told the Associated Press the group had turned over to Teare a death certificate for the man FIEL says ICE was apparently looking for. ICE did not respond to AP’s questions about the matter.