Dramatic video shot by a 13-year-old California girl shows immigration agents arresting her father, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, as he was about to drop her and her sisters off their Los Angeles-area school, several media outlets reported.
Fatima Avelica can be heard sobbing loudly in the video as Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez, 48, who has lived and worked in the country for 20 years, was pulled over by agents and detained, KABC reported.
"I was scared and sad at the same time," Fatima, still holding the cellphone on which she took the video, told CNN. "I never thought I would have to experience something like this in my life ... on my way to school."
“It’s really hard what we’re going through,” another daughter, Brenda Avelica, told KABC. “I never thought we’d actually go through something like this. It’s terrible to feel and see your family broken apart.”
The ICE agents, who were wearing police jackets, handcuffed Avelica-Gonzalez and placed him in an unmarked vehicle. He was taken to a nearby detention center, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials informed his family members that he was set to be deported the very same evening, the New York Daily News reported.
An attorney for the family was attempting to file paperwork for a U-visa, which would allow the father of four to remain in the country, KABC reported.
ICE said in a statement that Avelica-Gonzalez was arrested because he has "multiple prior criminal convictions, including a DUI in 2009, as well an outstanding order of removal dating back to 2014."
Ricardo Mireles, executive director of the charter school Academia Avance, told KABC that Avelica's DUI conviction occurred nearly a decade ago and another run-in with the law came 20 years ago after Avelica said he unknowingly purchased a car with an incorrect registration sticker.
Fatima Avelica said her father said his car was being followed by immigration agents in an unmarked car, CNN reported. She said she thought it was the police.
"We knew the day was going to come ... especially with the election (of President Donald Trump)," Avelica's 19-year-old daughter Jocelyn told CNN. "We just weren't prepared ... We thought if we don't talk about (it), it's not going to happen."
Jocelyn Avelica said her father is a good man.
"I know he is not a criminal," she said. "I've always said we all do things that we learn from ... He is our father, a hard worker, an honest man."
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