With all the hate and negative publicity ICE has garnered over the past few weeks, it’s become commonplace for many US citizens to profile and record them. What appears to be an ICE officer or agent, however, got a little too heated when a civilian from Pasadena, California, took photos of his vehicle; the supposed ICE agent then responded by pulling out his gun and threatening to shoot the civilian taking photos. What the “ICE agent” didn’t know was that someone else had already recorded his vehicle.
The incident happened at the Los Robles & Orange Grove in the city of Pasadena around 8:47 AM on June 18. TikTok user bxbabrat/yosselyneee caught the whole thing using their phone as they were following the federal agent, whom they assumed to be ICE. The vehicle was also tinted and drew attention, so once the car stopped at the intersection, a random civilian started taking photos.
To everyone’s surprise, the federal agent– wearing a police vest– quickly stepped out of his car, drew his handgun, pointed it at the civilian, and started threatening to shoot in an attempt to make him retreat. Once the civilian backed off, the federal officer went back to his vehicle and drove away at a red light. Here’s the footage:
The federal officer seems to be unaware that someone has already recorded his vehicle, and that his license plate is now visible for anyone to search. It’s also no coincidence that this video was taken on the morning when ICE agents raided the city of Pasadena to detain anyone they assumed was an illegal immigrant. In fact, they’ve already detained several construction workers just sitting in public spaces.
He Wants Public Privacy?
Due to the rather anxiously violent approach taken by the federal or ICE agent in the aforementioned video, many people, not only in California but also outside the state, have developed a new rising worry about ICE’s operations. It appears they’re now getting more aggressive, and even simply taking photos could get you in trouble.
Funny enough, ICE agents themselves, particularly in San Francisco, have also worried about their identity getting publicized and even requested privacy and anonymity while they carry out public arrests. Only this time, they’re not making requests anymore, but threats to maintain their privacy– in a public space.
Some people in the comment section of bxbabrat’s TikTok video even surmised that these new aggressive “ICE agents” could be bounty hunters commissioned by ICE. However, the fact that the man in the video is wearing a bulletproof vest with the “police” label looks rather suspect, especially if he’s a bounty hunter.
“ICE hired bounty hunters. They’re getting paid per person they kidnap,” suspects Pancake Jones
“Are you kidding him the way he pulled that out 😡😡😡😡,” fumes MF2025
“Well, that worked out well. Now we have the license plate, the make of the car and a video of the fed pointing a firearm at a civilian,” suggests I405CA
“Lol, does the cop not realize that the plate is pretty visible anyway, despite putting a tint cover on it to try to hide it? You can make out the plate in the news report itself. I hope he gets fired, but he will probably be put on paid leave instead,” hopes DoucheBro6969