US Border Patrol agents detained an undocumented mother in front of her screaming children on a Southern California street last week in an arrest that was captured on video and viewed millions of times online.
The footage, posted Thursday on Facebook, shows Perla Morales-Luna being pushed into a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) vehicle in National City, California, while her daughters cry out in protest. As of Thursday night it has received more than 7 million views.
"Don't touch me," Morales-Luna is heard saying as she is pulled into the vehicle in a second Facebook video that has since been taken down.
In one of the videos, a young woman is seen trying to pull Morales-Luna away from the Border Patrol officers. Her daughters are later seen sobbing as they watch their mother being pushed into the vehicle at an intersection. The video shows at least two Border Patrol agents in green uniform and one plainclothes officer.
"Mom!" One of her daughters screamed. "Where is she going?"
Moments later the van takes off and a man approached the girls asking if they're alone and if there's any family they can call.
In a statement, CBP said Morales-Luna was detained on Saturday because she was part of a transnational criminal smuggling organization operating in eastern San Diego County.
"She was arrested as a result of a targeted operation on March 3, 2018, in National City for being in the country illegally," said Jackie Wasiluk, a spokesperson for CBP. "She is currently in Border Patrol custody awaiting transfer to ICE for removal proceedings."
The agency would not say what criminal organization Morales-Luna was a part of in response to questions from BuzzFeed News and others online.
Judith Castro-Rangel, who posted the two videos, said she is a teacher for one of Morales-Luna's daughters.
"The brutalized, injustice that is happening in this country is sad," Castro-Rangel said in her Facebook post. "The subjects dressed as civilians detained Perla Morales at the head of her three daughters whom the Border Patrol left alone after brutally arresting their mother."
Adriana Jasso, program coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee San Diego Office, said the arrest was grotesque.
"The officers display no empathy nor humanity while this mother and her children begged for them not to separate the family," Jasso told BuzzFeed News in a statement. "This type of action by federal agencies can only be interpreted as representing the much anticipated and dangerous escalation of raids in California threatened by the Trump administration."
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/2Id8SOb
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