U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested four men on Tuesday on suspicion of interfering with immigration enforcement operations and placing homemade tire spikes allegedly intended to disable law enforcement vehicles, federal authorities said.
Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory K. Bovino identified the men as Jenaro-Ernesto Ayala, 43; Jude Jasmine Jeannine Allard, 28; Sadot Jarnica, 54; and Daniel Montenegro 30, in a statement on X. The case has been referred to the U.S. attorney’s office for filing consideration, he said.
Nonprofit organization Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur De California (IDEPSCA) identified Ayala and Allard as day laborer advocates.
The group said the two men were arrested in a Home Depot parking lot in Van Nuys around 10 a.m. Tuesday while exercising their legal right to observe and document the immigration raid. IDEPSCA operates a day labor center out of a building in the parking lot, which the group says has been targeted several times in the last week.
Ayala is a U.S. citizen and works as an outreach coordinator at the Van Nuys Day Labor Center, helping connect migrant workers to resources and jobs, Meagean Ortiz, executive director of IDEPSCA, told The Times.
“I have not seen any evidence of what the federal government is accusing my staff of doing, but I do have evidence of masked federal agents tackling not just my staff member, but other volunteers who were recording,” she said. Immigrant rights group Unión del Barrio posted Instagram video of people being tackled by federal agents during the operation.
IDEPSCA and a coalition of community advocates held a news conference outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown L.A. on Tuesday evening to demand the release of Ayala, Allard and all the workers detained in the raid.
“Ernesto was arrested, in our eyes, unconstitutionally in the course of an unconstitutional raid meant to attack our communities and pick up people based on the color of their skin and where they’re standing looking for work,” said Cal Soto, an attorney with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
“It is not a crime to be looking for work to support your families, and it’s not a crime to be brown, Latino and looking for work,” he continued. “It is also not a crime to observe and record law enforcement when they are enacting these kinds of raids.”
Soto said he attempted to enter the facility to provide Ayala and Allard with legal representation but was told that they were still being processed and that he was not allowed to see them.
In addition to demanding the release of those arrested Monday, representatives for IDEPSCA and Unión del Barrio said they were demanding an end to “federal intimidation tactics” targeting community worker centers and Home Depot parking lots.
“We will continue to fight for Ernesto, for Jude and for all the workers who continue to be kidnapped and terrorized in these lots, in these communities and in these streets that are our streets,” said a representative for Unión del Barrio. “No amount of tackling people in a Home Depot parking lot is going to silence day laborer organizations.”
