TikTok streamer of raids by ICE taken into custody

Tracker of immigration operations gained a social media following. Then federal agents looked to detain him, too

- BY BRITTNY MEJIA, RUBEN VIVES AND SALVADOR HERNANDEZ

CARLITOS Ricardo Parias, left, gets a certificate from Jose Ugarte.

(Office of Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price)

Carlitos Ricardo Parias had been tracking ICE raids around South L.A. and posting videos on TikTok for months, gaining hundreds of thousands of followers who looked to his social media accounts for vital updates on where federal immigration agents were.

As masked federal agents detained people in Los Angeles streets, Parias was often there streaming and recording. Known by several people as “Richard,” “El Señor Richard,” or the “Tiktokquero,” Parias became such a reliable source for news and information for residents that the city gave him official recognition in August for “keeping the South LA community informed empowered and protected.”

But on Tuesday, Parias found himself on the other side of the lens and the apparent target of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials as they tried to take the 44-year-old into custody in an operation that left him and a deputy U.S. marshal wounded.

Parias, who remained hospitalized Wednesday, was charged by federal prosecutors with assault on a federal officer. They allege Parias, described in court records as an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, “rammed his car into agents’ vehicles after they boxed him in and ordered him to submit to arrest.”

He also has a history of driving without a license, failing to prove financial responsibility and resisting arrest, according to a statement from Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. Parias also entered the country illegally from Mexico at an unknown time and place, according to the statement.

ETHAN SWOPE For The Times