Family of detained student files a claim against U.S.

Immigration agents are accused of 'unconstitutional racial profiling' of a 15-year-old boy with a disability outside Arleta High School

- HOWARD BLUME

ANDREINA MEJIA, the mother of the student, said she and the boy feared the masked agents with guns.

Attorneys announced Tuesday that they have filed a $1-million damage claim against the Trump administration alleging that the recent detention of a 15-year-old boy outside Arleta High School amounted to the “unconstitutional racial profiling” of a U.S. citizen.

The claim, filed on Monday according to paperwork provided by attorneys, cited “conduct of ICE agents and Border Patrol agents that caused the false arrest, false imprisonment, assault, [and] battery” of the boy on Aug. 11.

The Trump administration on Tuesday denied any wrongdoing, saying that the incident was one of mistaken identity.

According to school district officials, federal agents drew weapons on the boy, who is a student with a disability, and handcuffed him before his mother persuaded the agents that her son was not the individual they were looking for.

The student's mother, Andreina Mejia, affirmed those details at a Tuesday news conference outside school district headquarters, just west of downtown L.A. While she waited in the car with her son, who attends San Fernando High School, a white truck drove up quickly — so quickly she thought it would hit her vehicle.

At least two masked men with guns approached one on each side of the car. She said the officers pulled both of them from the car and separated them. Her son had difficulty removing his seat belt, but he did not resist as he was placed immediately in handcuffs.