Andrea Velez, 32, a Cal Poly Pomona graduate and U.S. citizen, was simply being dropped off at work by her mother and sister in downtown Los Angeles when her American dream became an American nightmare. What started as a normal Tuesday morning to her job as a shoe stylist, it easily turned into the worst day of her life. What happened next would shake her family to its core and once again expose the troubling pattern that the supreme court, 9th circuits, and many other congress and judicial officials continue to pretend they do not see or know, and that's the lawlessness that the federal immigration enforcement officers continue to behave as, just like cowboys rather then their "law enforcement official" portrayal. As Velez stepped out of the vehicle, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents many who were masked with police vests although they are not, suddenly surrounded her. Her sister Estrella Rosas and mother Margarita Flores watched in horror from their car as agents grabbed Andrea without warning. "My mom looked at the rear mirror and she saw how my sister was attacked from the back," Rosas recounted through tears. "She was like: 'They're kidnapping your sister.'

     A Citizen Treated Like a Criminal Video footage from the scene shows agents physically lifting Velez off the ground and carrying her away as her family screamed desperately from their vehicle: "She's a US citizen. They're taking her. Help her, someone." Witnesses reported that agents never asked Velez for identification and that she had done nothing wrong. The scene was both surreal and terrifying—a U.S. citizen being detained by her own government while police officers stood by, watching the spectacle unfold. "The only thing wrong with her was the color of her skin," said Velez's mother, Margarita Flores, cutting to the heart of what many see as racial profiling disguised as immigration enforcement.

     Lost in the System For more than 24 hours, the Velez family had no idea where Andrea was being held. Even with legal representation, it took attorneys four hours to locate her—a chilling reminder of how easily American citizens can disappear into the immigration detention system. "It took us four hours to find her and we're attorneys. That's crazy," said family attorney Dominique Boubion. "Just to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and you have the full weight of the federal government against you and your family can't find you—it is very scary."

     A Pattern of Constitutional Violations Andrea Velez's case is not isolated. Government reports reveal a disturbing trend: between 2015 and 2020, ICE erroneously deported at least 70 U.S. citizens, arrested 674, and detained 121 others. These numbers likely represent only the tip of the iceberg, as many cases go unreported or undocumented. The Trump administration's aggressive immigration crackdown has created an environment where citizenship status appears secondary to racial profiling. U.S. citizens are being targeted for their appearance, their willingness to help immigrants, or simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

     When Justice Becomes Injustice Federal authorities claim Velez was arrested for assaulting an ICE officer, but her family and witnesses dispute this account. The charge appears to be a post-hoc justification for what looks like an unlawful detention based on appearance rather than evidence. This raises fundamental questions about due process, constitutional rights, and the rule of law. If American citizens can be grabbed off the streets without proper identification checks or probable cause, what protections do any of us really have? ## The Broader Implications The Velez case exposes the dangerous intersection of aggressive immigration enforcement and racial profiling. When federal agents operate with such broad authority and minimal oversight, the constitutional rights of all Americans—regardless of citizenship status—are at risk. Her family's description of the incident as a "kidnapping" may sound dramatic, but it accurately captures the reality: a U.S. citizen was forcibly taken by government agents without due process, held incommunicado, and separated from her family based on what appears to be racial profiling.

A Call for Accountability Andrea Velez's ordeal should serve as a wake-up call about the urgent need for immigration enforcement reform. When being an American citizen is not enough to protect you from wrongful detention, when your constitutional rights can be suspended based on your appearance, we have crossed a dangerous line. The question now is whether our justice system will hold accountable those responsible for this violation of civil rights, or whether cases like Andrea Velez's will become the new normal in American law enforcement. In a nation built by immigrants and founded on principles of justice and equality, the wrongful detention of citizens like Andrea Velez represents not just a failure of policy, but a fundamental betrayal of American values.