California Worker Killed While Fleeing ICE

Read our editorial on mass deportations here, and the ongoing struggle against it here.

Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdés, a Guatemalan day laborer living in California, was killed fleeing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid at a Home Depot in Monrovia, California. The murder occurred Thursday (08/14) when Montoya fled from agents across an expressway adjacent to the store, where he was struck by an oncoming SUV. Montoya died of his injuries at a hospital later that day. Montoya, 52, had been in the US for five years, leaving behind four daughters living in Guatemala who he worked to provide for. 

13 workers were detained during the raid. Several workers were brutalized and sustained injuries, according to Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network​​​​​​​ (NDLON). “They’re afraid of going to the clinics and hospitals, so we’re going to make sure there’s a doctor who comes to see them,” said Alvarado to local monopoly news outlet KTLA5.​​​​​​​

In the days since the raid, hundreds of community members, workers, and activists have voiced their outrage about the killing. Later on the same day as the raid, dozens rallied at the Home Depot where the raid occurred to honor the life of Montoya and condemn the continued ICE terror campaign of the ultra-reactionary Trump administration. Protesters marched through the parking lot and held a vigil for Montoya that went on into the night. A memorial has steadily grown near the storefront. “I was heartbroken,” said one of the protesters to KTLA5. “I feel like Monrovia was violated… to know that a man lost his life today just trying to work, just trying to take care of himself and his family.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) quickly denied having anything to do with the death, claiming after the fact that they were not after Montoya. Given the escalating terror tactics employed by ICE, which includes arresting “collaterals”, there would be no reason for Montoya to believe that he would not have been targeted, and ICE is fully responsible for his death. As the Trump administration grows more desperate to claw its way out of the deepening economic and political crisis, it resorts to increasingly desperate and brutal tactics to continue mass deportations on behalf of the ruling class.

Photo: Memorial held for Montoya outside Home Depot.

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