‘We’re not leaving’: Border Patrol uses ‘Trojan Horse’ unmarked truck to resume deportation raids

Critics say raid uses same tactics barred under recent federal court ruling

in San Francisco

Thursday 07 August 2025 01:42 BST

Border Patrol chief: 'We're here and we're not going anywhere'

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A group of masked Border Patrol agents leapt out of an unmarked commercial truck and arrested 16 people on Wednesday outside a Home Depot store in the Westlake section of Los Angeles, in an operation critics say violates a series of recent court rulings against the Trump administration.

“For those who thought immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again,” Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, whose district includes Los Angeles, wrote in a statement on X. “The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable, and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.”

The raid, which officials later called Operation Trojan Horse, began around 6:45am, according to bystanders.

A yellow Penske box truck reportedly approached day laborers in the parking lot of the store and someone asked for workers in Spanish. As a crowd gathered, the doors to the truck’s trailer flew open and agents jumped out, chasing people through the parking lot.

"This is the worst feeling ever," a day laborer who identified himself as Caesar told The Los Angeles Times of watching the raid.