Brian Gavidia experienced an unusual situation in his mechanics workshop located in Los Angeles: two agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) pinned him against a fence to arrest him, while he repeatedly told them he was a U.S. citizen.

The man was born in East Los Angeles, but his Hispanic features alerted the officers, who arrived in a border patrol vehicle, armed and with their faces covered. His friend, who is also a citizen, spent four days in detention.

"I felt like they took me for the color of my skin," Gavidia said in a video call with the Telemundo network. The incident occurred on June 12.

Federal judge orders halt to discriminatory arrests

U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, called the man’s testimony “a mountain of evidence” about discriminatory arrests.

She also requested that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) develop guidelines so that ICE agents only make an arrest when there is “reasonable suspicion,” but not based on a person’s apparent race or ethnicity, including language or accent, “presence in a specific place,” or the type of work they do.

“This entire practice is completely unconstitutional and this decision (by the judge) is the first step to stopping it,” said Gina Amato, an attorney with Public Counsel.

Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong also ordered the Trump to offer a guarantee that detainees at a federal building in Los Angeles would be allowed to contact an immigration attorney. However, DHS took to social media to say that the judge is “undermining the will of the American people and that law and order will prevail. ”Prosecutor Bill Essayli asserted that ICE agents “have never detained people without adequate legal justification.”

Protests against the Trump administration have erupted in Southern California, with demonstrators alleging that many immigrants are being persecuted for their dark skin.

“For me, the most important thing is the Constitution and that citizens know their rights, that’s why I’m fighting today, so that any immigrant, whether they are American or not, knows that they have a voice and rights in the United States,” said Brian Gavidia, who was affected by the attempted arrest at his workshop.

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