On Sunday, the neighborhood calm was disrupted when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descended en masse to whisk away one 61-year-old man who may have a brain tumor. To accomplish the task, ICE brought an armored truck with a battering ram, at least 12 unmarked police vehicles, flash-bang grenades and dozens of agents armed with military rifles, some wearing facemasks to prevent their identification.
The raid, which took place at the intersection of 16th and Beryl avenues, has left residents shaken.
“It was really aggressive for what it was,” said a neighbor who identified himself as Javier and spoke in Spanish. “They frightened everybody. It was such a big operation just for an older gentleman.”
The man who is gone is Alfonso Garcia Vega, but ICE has not confirmed to Phoenix New Times that he was arrested on Sunday, nor will the agency even say if it had a warrant to arrest him. According to court records, a man who shares that name and is Vega’s age has multiple criminal convictions. Marco Garcia, the arrested man’s son, told the Arizona Republic that his father had been deported once before.
However, Marco Garcia also told the Republic that his father “called about an hour after he was taken into custody from an ICE detention center in Phoenix and said ICE officers showed him a picture of a man with the name Alfonso but it was not him.” Garcia Vega also has many health issues, Garcia told the Republic, and is seeking a diagnosis for a possible tumor on his head.
Approached Tuesday, Garcia did not want to speak at length with the press because the events that unfolded were “traumatizing” and because he is trying to figure out his options.
“It’s a bit overwhelming, everything that’s happening,” Garcia said. “Right now, we’re just talking to our lawyers and trying to figure out what to do next.”
In a video shared online, Garcia and others can be heard asking the agents to show them a warrant.
Garcia told New Times that one of the agents said a warrant was left inside the house, but Garcia said he never found one. New Times asked ICE via email for a copy of the warrant its agents used to arrest Garcia Vega. It has not responded.
Javier, who did not give his last name, said unmarked police cars appeared in his neighborhood three hours before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Alfonso Garcia Vega on Sunday.
Itzia Crespo
‘A waste of money’
According to Javier, unmarked police vehicles appeared in the neighborhood three hours before the arrest. “It’s always really quiet and so it was really strange that the police were here,” he said.Two other neighbors said the same thing. One, who spoke with New Times on condition of anonymity, said she came home around 11 a.m. on Sunday and noticed suspicious cars were parked in usually empty spots on the curving street. About four hours later, she heard a loud bang noise outside.
In the video of the arrest taken by Garcia, ICE agents deployed flash bangs.
“I’ve got kids, so I came back in and I’m like, ‘Don’t come outside. I don’t want you seeing anything. I don’t know what’s going on,’” the anonymous resident told New Times. “And then I stayed inside, and then about 20 minutes later, they were gone.”
A man who identified himself as Lee also told New Times that the cops “had been sitting out here all day.” He was talking with his young son when police cars swarmed from all directions.
“They threw a couple flash bangs and he came out really quick,” Lee said. “I think it’s terrible. I don’t know what they came for him about. It was super excessive and a waste of money. You had people out here all day."
Lee, who has lived in the neighborhood for six years, said Garcia Vega “has always seemed like a good neighbor.” So did the anonymous neighbor.
“From what I know about the gentleman who lives there, he’s harmless,” she said. “He’s a sweet old guy who’s just trying to have a quiet life and take care of his family.”
Two days after ICE agents arrested Alfonso Garcia Vega, his neighborhood was eerily calm.
Itzia Crespo
Left in shock
Days after the overkill arrest, the tight-knit neighborhood has been left in shock.“Everybody looks after everybody. We all know each other,” said the neighbor who asked to be anonymous. “We do cookouts and regular parties with all the kids. All the kids are the same age. A couple doors down, we have a retired police chief who took it upon himself to be our neighborhood watch chief.”
That retired police chief lives across the street from Garcia Vega. The front door of his house was initially open, but someone closed it as two New Times reporters approached. While the TV was on inside, no one came to the door when New Times knocked. It’s not clear what department the retired police chief used to work for, though New Times has attempted to contact him through other means.
The anonymous resident said the ICE raid has left her children confused.
“They think it’s scary. They don’t understand why this needs to be going on. Trying to explain to them when I don’t fully understand myself is a hard thing to do as a parent,” she said, a bit choked up. “You know this person. This person didn’t do anything wrong, they are not a threat. There was no reason for this.”
Kids all around the block were frightened and confused. Javier’s children were similarly left wondering why police made such a show of force.
“It scared them a lot. They asked if the police always do that and what was the bad thing (Garcia Vega) did,” Javier said. “We’re scared because something like that has never happened in our neighborhood. It left a big impact on everyone — my kids, my wife. It doesn’t seem worth it to me to have so much police activity for just one person who isn’t well, who’s sick.”
Lee didn’t seem to think the spectacle and resources expended were justified either.
“I don’t know if they had any cause, but it just seemed pretty excessive,” he said.
It remains unclear why ICE wanted to make such a show of detaining a sick 61-year-old man. ICE did not respond to a request for a list of expenses associated with making the arrest. But if it is simply because he is an undocumented immigrant, Lee had thoughts.
“That’s a horrible waste of money,” he said. “Waste of time.”
There was also something deeply eerie about the whole operation.
“They acted by sheer force,” Javier said. “They didn’t value the rights of the people or of anyone. They didn’t respect anyone.”
