Colombian TikTok influencer Leidy Tatiana Mafla-Martinez was taken into ICE custody while live streaming from her home in Los Angeles. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Martinez was arrested in connection with a prior DUI.
Newsweek reported Martinez, who is well-known on TikTok for posting videos that document several ICE arrests, was filmed on Friday seated in her Tesla when agents opened her car door and pulled her onto the pavement. She also appeared to experience a medical event during the arrest, and at one point onlookers are heard demanding treatment for her.
The arrest was also briefly interrupted by a man who attempted to tow one of the police cars in the arrest.
“He mocked and videotaped ICE officers chasing after him,” McLaughlin also told Newsweek. “Secretary Noem has been clear: Anyone who seeks to impede law enforcement will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Martinez was initially transported to White Memorial Hospital and is currently being held in a detention center in downtown Los Angeles.
On Thursday, Los Angeles Rep. Jimmy Gomez accused ICE of staging an empty migrant detention center.
“One person was talking to the Mexican consulate who happened to be there, and the other person was just in the cell with their head down on a table or on the table or something. He was just kind of sitting there,” Gomez said of the center he visited recently.
Gomez also questioned why the center was so empty despite the numerous arrests made recently. Nearly 2,800 people have been taken into ICE custody since early June.
“They’ve been running raids, even over the weekend, and all of a sudden there’s no one there? That’s just completely bizarre,” he told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki.
