Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – An elderly US man who was body slammed to the ground as immigration agents raided his Los Angeles car wash said Thursday he is lodging a $50 million damages claim against the government. Surveillance video shows Rafie Shouhed being violently manhandled by several masked and heavily armed agents, who then took him into custody where he says he was held for nearly 12 hours without medical attention.
“The way they treated me, the way they attacked me. I was begging (them), ‘I have a heart condition,'” Shouhed told reporters. Shouhed said he had gone out to speak to the men to find out what was happening. “They told me nothing. The only word they say: ‘You do not F with ICE,'” said Shouhed, who moved to the United States from Iran in the 1980s. ICE refers to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
The raid on Shouhed’s car wash this month was part of President Donald Trump’s ramped-up program against undocumented migrants as he looks to fulfill an election pledge to deport millions of people. The raids have been controversial, particularly in multiethnic Los Angeles, in part because they appear to target people simply because they speak Spanish or are working at locations like car washes.
Video shows three masked men pinning Shouhed to the ground, with one of them appearing to put a knee on his neck. The 79-year-old said he told agents, “I cannot breathe, I cannot breathe.” Attorneys acting for Shouhed said their client’s pleas, including his explanation that he had recently undergone heart surgery, were ignored. “He was held nearly 12 hours without medical attention. Even after agents admitted they knew he was a US citizen, he was kept in custody,” the claim says.
Shouhed, a Trump voter, was released without charge. He was later treated in hospital for broken ribs, serious elbow injuries, and traumatic brain injury, lawyers said. The legal claim is a precursor to a lawsuit. A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security told AFP the September 9 raid had resulted in the arrest of “five illegal aliens from Guatemala and Mexico who broke our nation’s immigration laws, including one who was removed from the country twice in 2015.”
“The owner of Valley Car Wash, a US citizen, impeded the operation and was arrested for assaulting and impeding a federal officer.” Shouhed’s lawyer, Jim Desimone, said surveillance video showed that his client had been co-operative. “How many more people have to be seriously injured or die before we have a change in the way these ICE officers are… using brutal force first and asking questions later?”
© 2024 AFP
