A California man is regretting his vote for Donald Trump after he was detained by ICE agents during a raid in Los Angeles.
Brian Gavidia, a 29-year-old American citizen, was arrested by agents in June outside his business during an immigration raid on the San Gabriel Valley community.
Video of the arrest showed Gavidia telling the agent “I was born here in the states, East LA bro!” as the agent pushed him against a wall and demanded that he prove his citizenship.
Gavidia told NBC Los Angeles that agents took his phone and Real ID. His phone was returned to him upon his release but not his Real ID.
Gavidia told the outlet that he believes he was racially profiled.
“I truly believe I was targeted because of my race,” he said. “I believe I was racially profiled. I believe I was attacked because I was walking while brown. Where is the freedom? Where is the justice? We live in America.”
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed in a statement to Newsweek that Gavidia was arrested “for assaulting a law enforcement officer and interfering with agents during their duties.”
Gavidia voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election believing that his mass deportation policy would only target violent migrant criminals.
Gavidia now regrets his vote, saying that many people in the Latino community were “brainwashed” by Trump’s “lies.”
“I believe it was a mistake because he ran on lies,” he told NBC LA. “He said criminals. He said a bunch of countries opened up their jails and release them [into the United States]. When you lie to us like that…of course you’re going to scare people, of course you’re going to brainwash people.”
“We were all manipulated. We were all brainwashed and now look at us, we are all suffering because of it and I feel guilty 100 percent,” he added.
Gavidia is now handing out cards to educate migrants about their rights and organizing ‘know your rights’ workshops.
He is also one of seven plaintiffs in the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit that resulted in a court order saying ICE agents can’t rely solely on someone’s race, where they work or the fact that they’re speaking Spanish to stop and detain them without reasonable suspicion or probable cause.
On August 1, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a temporary restraining order, denying the Trump administration’s request seeking a stay while the case was appealed.
The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the court order blocking immigration stops in Los Angeles based on race and employment last Thursday.
