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Pico Rivera resident describes mother’s detention and transfer to Arizona; council members offer support
Summary
A Pico Rivera resident told the council how Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained her mother in July and transferred her to Eloy Detention Center in Arizona; the council expressed support and offered to document the family’s account.
A Pico Rivera resident recounted to the City Council on Sept. 9 how federal immigration officers detained her mother in July, how the family secured bond and arranged for her release, and how the experience affected the family.
Zelzen Mendez told the council her mother, Anna Pantoja, who has lived in the United States for more than 35 years, was stopped while driving and then taken by a group of unmarked vehicles. Mendez said, “They proceeded to pull her out from the vehicle, zip tied her wrist tightly where she couldn't feel her hands from the loss of circulation, and took her away without any explanation, basically kidnapping her.”
Mendez said her mother was initially held at a Los Angeles detention facility and then transferred “460 miles away to Eloy Detention Center in Arizona.” She described the family’s effort to arrange bond, saying community donations and legal help made a difference: “We got a good lawyer, Michael, from Arizona,” a council speaker later recounted during discussion of the case.
Mendez said a judge granted bond at a hearing in August, ICE approved the bond paperwork on Aug. 25, and her mother was released from custody the next day and returned to the family. She told the council the release followed the family’s fundraising and legal work and called her mother’s detention “one of the hardest” experiences her family has endured.
Councilmembers responded with personal remarks and offers of assistance. Dr. Sanchez thanked Mendez “for your courage, also for sharing your testimony with us,” and asked whether Mendez would leave a written copy of her account with the city clerk so the city can document residents’ experiences with immigration enforcement. Councilmember Lara and others described community organizing and legal barriers they said are affecting detained immigrants.
Speakers noted broader changes in immigration adjudication and bond policy discussed at regional and national conferences; councilmembers encouraged continuing to document cases to support residents and provide referrals.
Mendez asked the council and community to remain vocal on behalf of families facing detention; councilmembers said they would continue to assist and offered to work with the family to track or share documentation if the family agreed.
No city action or ordinance was taken during the meeting. The council directed staff to accept a written version of the testimony if Mendez wished to provide it to the city clerk and to coordinate referrals to local resources as requested by the family.
