Anaheim warns of immigration raids as agents swarm the city

Officials describe the actions as 'the most significant and disruptive' in weeks.

- HANNAH FRY

GREGORY BULL Associated Press "THERE'S just a lot of fear," a council member says. Above, immigration agents detain a man in Montebello.

Officials in Anaheim issued a warning to the public after a spate of immigration raids over the weekend that they called "the most significant and disruptive federal enforcement" the city has seen in weeks.

Anaheim has seen targeted enforcement and "larger activity" since mid-July, when a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking federal agents from using racial profiling to carry out random immigration arrests across the region, officials said in their Monday warning.

Around midday Saturday, agents in three or four black sport utility vehicles and a white van arrived at Euclid Car Wash, deploying what appeared to be a smoke canister before detaining one person. The individual was a bystander, not an employee at the car wash, according to the city.

Video of the incident posted on social media showed uniformed, masked agents tackling a man to the ground as he tried to flee through the parking lot. The man was later released.

"I think everybody in the community feels targeted," said Anaheim City Councilmember Carlos Leon. "There's just a lot of fear and uncertainty, and it's really a very destabilizing thing to go through as a city."