If ICE Can Disappear a U.S. Citizen, What Do We Call That—Law Enforcement or Kidnapping?

When a man vanishes off the street in broad daylight at the hands of government agents, what do you call it?

Law enforcement?

Or kidnapping under color of authority?

That’s the question we should all be asking after reading today’s Los Angeles Times investigation by Rachel Uranga, Rebecca Ellis, Clara Harter, Ruben Vives, and Seema Mehta—a searing exposé on ICE’s rampage through Los Angeles.

Let me introduce you to Job Garcia, a 37-year-old doctoral student at Claremont Graduate University. On a quiet Tuesday morning, he was picking up an order for a customer at a Home Depot in Burbank when ICE agents swarmed the location.

At 7:59 a.m., he managed to send one last text to his brother:

“Hey Elias me agarro ICE.”

ICE got me.

Since then?

Nothing. No phone call. No booking info. No charges. No confirmation.

Job Garcia—a U.S. citizen—was taken. And now?

He’s gone.

Let Me Ask What No One Else Is Asking:

Where the hell is he?

If he’s in custody, why haven’t his family or his lawyer been contacted?

If there’s no record of his booking, why hasn’t LAPD opened a kidnapping case?

Let’s call this what it is: if a group of masked men in unmarked vehicles snatched a man off the street and no one could find him after, we’d call it an abduction.

So tell me: does wearing a badge change that?

Not in a state with a Constitution worth its salt.

Not in a city that still claims to value justice.

This Isn’t Immigration Enforcement. It’s Terror by Badge.

ICE says they’re targeting criminals. But their operations are dragnet-crude, chaotic, and unconstitutional.

They’re not using intel. They’re not executing warrants with precision. They’re not distinguishing between undocumented residents and U.S. citizens.

They’re kicking down doors, shoving workers into vans, and throwing flash-bangs at peaceful protesters. No restraint. No oversight. No professionalism.

And in the process, they’re committing acts that—if any of us civilians did them—would land us in handcuffs and in court.

The Home Depot Raids Were Not Enforcement. They Were State-Sanctioned Ambushes.

Let’s talk about what happened at multiple Home Depot locations.

In Burbank, agents surrounded the parking lot. No specific warrant. No target confirmed. Just brown-skinned workers. One Home Depot supervisor told ICE the man they were looking for didn’t even work there.

They took someone anyway.

They took Job Garcia—a U.S. citizen. And now, he’s missing.

Compare That to What Professional Law Enforcement Looks Like

Back in the day, when narcotics complaints came in at events like those held at the Sports Arena, here’s what we didn’t do:

❌ Call in armored vehicles

❌ Surround entire sections

❌ Start dragnet interrogations row by row

❌ Arrest concertgoers for protesting the tactics

What we did do was investigate.

We identified suspects based on evidence—not assumption.

We developed probable cause.

We issued warrants.

And when we made arrests, suspects were named, logged, processed, given phone calls, and arraigned in court.

Because that’s what professional law enforcement does.

That’s what due process looks like.

So Why Is No One Stepping Up?

Why is LAPD not investigating what happened to Job Garcia?

Why is the District Attorney’s Office not opening an inquiry into what appears to be a possible kidnapping of a U.S. citizen by federal agents?

Where are the crime reports?

Where are the public records?

Where is the accountability?

If ICE has no record of his booking, and if his family has no access to him—then somebody needs to explain whether a crime has occurred. And the people who should be leading that conversation are the very ones standing silent.

If We Allow This to Stand, What’s Next?

If a citizen can disappear without cause, without record, without recourse—and no one in local government treats it as criminal—then we no longer live in a constitutional democracy. We live in a state where federal agents can act with impunity and without consequence.

And if your local police department isn’t investigating it, they’re not neutral—they’re complicit.

Call to Action

If you are in law enforcement, your duty is to the law—not to unaccountable federal power. If there’s reason to believe a U.S. citizen has been unlawfully detained, taken, or disappeared, take the damn report. Open the investigation. Interview the witnesses. Demand the records.

If you are a prosecutor, and you’re sitting on the sidelines while this happens in your jurisdiction, ask yourself this: what exactly would it take for you to act?

If you are a citizen, do not let this go quietly. Call your city council. Demand oversight. Demand that ICE be subject to the same law you are.

Because if they can disappear Job Garcia—a U.S. citizen and graduate student in Los Angeles—they can disappear anyone.

And that is not law enforcement.

That’s tyranny with a badge.

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Read the full Los Angeles Times story:

“As ICE uses force in L.A. operations, residents say they fear for their safety” – LA Times

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Demand your police protect the public from rogue federal agents—before it’s you they come for you

Stephen Downing

Retired Deputy Chief, LAPD