“I’m sharing my story so that this doesn’t happen to other people. This is not the America that I know.”
California Representative Robert Garcia held a congressional hearing on March 24 about the impact of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on families and children. Garcia cited the testimony of a 16-year-old whose father was arrested and detained.
The 16-year-old is a U.S. citizen and the son of Arnulfo Bazan Carrillo, an undocumented immigrant who was arrested on October 23, 2025. The teen’s testimony alleges that ICE violently arrested his father in front of him and harassed him while they detained his father.
The father and son were driving to school when unidentified ICE officials pulled them over. Armed men wearing masks approached the vehicle without identifying themselves, and Bazan Carillo drove away. ICE agents allegedly “rammed into” Bazan Carrillo’s car multiple times, at one point lifting the car, in order to pull them over.
The testimony alleges that the ICE agents attacked Bazan Carrillo, and when his son ran to his father’s aide, he became a target of the violence as well. An agent allegedly put the teen in a chokehold that was so tight he feared for his life. The agents mocked him and told the minor that he “was ‘gay for crying,’ ‘an illegal idiot,’ a ‘border hopper,’ and other demeaning words.”
“One officer put me in a chokehold and told me, ‘You’re done.’”
The 16-year-old video recorded the entire encounter on his phone, which the agents took. When the teen used a phone finder app to locate his phone, it was in a buy-and-sell kiosk for used electronics. The ICE agents had taken and sold the phone. Local police say “that they ‘can’t do anything’ to federal officers.”
The teen was taken to the hospital after the incident and treated for his injuries. The injuries sustained had lasting effects for weeks.
The ICE agent that choked him allegedly threatened to make his father “pay the consequences” if he pressed charges. He also alleged that agents told Bazan Carrillo that they would send his son “to juvie and federal prison” if he did not sign papers to self-deport.
ICE raids and the resulting chaos and violence bred by their agents has increased exponentially in the last year. This directly affects the lives of those arrested, detained, and deported, along with their families, friends, and communities.
As Rep. Garcia concluded the hearing, he made a final statement: “This is Donald Trump’s America.”
Photo courtesy of social media
