Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify the nature of the separate raids.
Riverside County deputies and federal agents raided a Pomona auto body shop on Friday morning in the latest federal action in this Los Angeles suburb.
Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval confirmed to KTLA that he was outside the shop during the raid on the 200 block of East Holt Avenue and was seen in video footage provided by a witness.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office told KTLA the raid involved county authorities and the Department of Homeland Security, which served a narcotics-related search warrant.
“This is an ongoing investigation, and no further details will be released,” the sheriff’s department said.
Friday’s raid came after a similar action at a Pomona Home Depot on Tuesday, where as many as 25 day laborers were taken into custody, according to immigration advocates. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said agents were targeting an individual with an active arrest warrant and, in the process, ensnared nine additional “illegal aliens.”
The raids, part of the Trump administration’s broader crackdown on illegal immigration, have sent shockwaves through the area’s Latino community.
“We are deeply concerned by the presence of federal agents coming in, randomly, into our city and causing disruption,” said Sandoval. “Given what’s happened in Pomona and all over the country, people are living in fear. They feel terrorized in their community.”
Sandoval does not believe anyone was taken into custody in Friday’s operation.
Also on Friday, the federal government announced it was reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the country after many filed court challenges against the Trump administration’s crackdown.
More than 1,200 students nationwide suddenly lost their legal status or had visas revoked, leaving them at risk for deportation. Many said they had only minor infractions on their record or did not know why they were targeted. Some left the country while others have gone into hiding or stopped going to class.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
