June 21, 2025 — Adrian Martinez, the 20‑year‑old U.S. citizen whose violent arrest by immigration agents galvanized protesters this week, walked free Friday after posting a $5,000 bond, his lawyers said.
“We’re very grateful our client will be released today,” attorneys from the Miller Law Group said. “Adrian did nothing wrong, and was standing up for an elderly janitorial worker when he was violently assaulted and abducted by masked federal agents.”
The confrontation unfolded Tuesday in the parking lot of a Washington Boulevard retail center that houses a Lowe’s and other big‑box stores. Cell‑phone video shows at least six plain‑clothes officers wrestling Martinez—an employee of the nearby Walmart—to the pavement while a bystander shouts, “He’s a U.S. citizen!” Moments later, additional agents shove him into a U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle.
What preceded the scuffle remains unclear. Martinez’s family says he intervened when agents began questioning another man, triggering a melee. Federal officials offered a starkly different account.
“Once again, a false narrative is and was being pushed out on the arrest of a U.S. Citizen in Pico Rivera, CA.,” U.S. Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Gregory K. Bovino wrote on X. “Don’t take our word for it, check out [U.S. Attorney Eassayli’s] take on it. This subject just caught a federal case for assault on a federal agent. DON’T ASSAULT.” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, sharing the same video, claimed Martinez had punched “a border patrol agent in the face after he attempted to impede their immigration operation.”
The Miller Law Group disputes those assertions. “U.S. Attorney Essayli and U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino outrageously alleged that Adrian assaulted a federal agent. However he has not been charged with an assault charge because he didn’t assault anyone, and the evidence of that is clear,” the firm said. “Instead, he has been charged with conspiracy to impede or injure an officer, a felony. This is a clearly trumped‑up charge filed to justify the federal agents’ violent treatment of Adrian.”
The incident has reignited criticism of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics and spurred nightly demonstrations outside Pico Rivera City Hall. Local leaders, including the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, which pledged $1 million for immigrant‑support groups earlier this year, have called for an independent investigation.
For now, Martinez is home with relatives. His attorneys say they will outline next steps soon, but are “happy that Adrian will be able to get some rest and spend the weekend at home with his family.”
“It’s just heartbreaking that they’re taking people,” the man who witnessed the incident said. “Sometimes those people are U.S. citizens and it’s just sad.”
