“Then You’ll Have to Take All of Long Beach”: A Neighborhood Stands Up to ICE After an American Citizen Is Left Lying in the Gutter With a Broken Arm

“Then you’ll have to take all of Long Beach.” Patricia Velazquez said those words as neighbors in the northern part of the California city stood up to federal agents. Trash cans blocked vehicles, and people stepped into the street. Ricardo Gonzalez, 40, lay on the pavement with a broken arm. He screamed for medical help. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents put him in handcuffs. Gonzalez was born in Hanford, California, is an American citizen, and is a former employee of the City of Long Beach. For the men holding him down in the street that Saturday, something else apparently mattered more.

The full footage shows the entire incident: from the beginning of the arrest to the brutal violence by ICE agents that left Ricardo Gonzalez with a broken arm, and finally the intervention of neighbors who stood up to the agents and refused to back down.

The operation began near Elm Avenue and 56th Street, where Gonzalez was riding his electric bike. His daughter Leslie said an unmarked federal vehicle had hit him, after which agents tased him twice. A neighbor described a similar sequence of events: An agent jumped out of the vehicle and threw the cyclist to the ground. Another resident said an agent accused Gonzalez of throwing something at the vehicle. Nothing like that can be seen in the videos. Why ICE stopped the man in the first place remains unclear. The footage also documents what happened afterward: Gonzalez is lying face down at the side of the road, begging for help and screaming that his arm is broken. Federal agents handcuff him.

Residents had already noticed an unusually large number of unmarked vehicles early that morning. As word spread about what was happening to Gonzalez, they came outside, along with volunteer groups that warn people about immigration enforcement operations. They demanded a warrant. Some pushed trash cans in front of the vehicles, while others stood in front of them themselves. One resident later said agents had shouted at protesters that they didn't look like they were in the country legally. If someone's face alone is enough to make them a suspect, any citizen with the wrong skin color can be declared a foreigner. Even right outside their own front door.

The confrontation lasted about two hours. During that time, federal agents grabbed two American women and forced them into separate vehicles. But the neighbors weren't going to let that happen. Some distracted the agents while others opened the vehicle doors and freed the women. The people of Long Beach were no longer willing to stand silently by as armed federal agents abducted their neighbors. They stepped in and pulled the women out of the vehicles.

Congressman Robert Garcia thanked the people who filmed the incident and stood by Gonzalez's family. Trump's deportation machine is inhumane and unlawful, he declared, calling for ICE to be abolished. Mayor Rex Richardson said ICE had no business being in Long Beach; its operations were damaging trust and undermining people's sense of safety. Immigrants were part of the city and had the right to live there without fear. City Councilwoman Tunua Thrash-Ntuk shouted at the agents, “Keep your hands off our people!” She condemned people being stopped or harassed because of their skin color. In a free country, she declared, residents should never be subjected to baseless attacks simply for riding their bikes through their own neighborhoods.

Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia condemned the brutal attack by ICE agents on an American citizen whose arm they had broken, calling the video footage horrifying and alarming for the entire country. He also praised the neighbors who documented the assault and stood up to protect the family terrorized by ICE.

Local police also have questions to answer. Some footage shows patrol cars blocking off streets. Residents wanted to know why their police officers were supporting a federal operation when California limits cooperation in enforcing immigration laws. Police said ICE had requested emergency assistance. The department said it did not participate in enforcing civil immigration regulations but could not legally prevent federal agents from doing their jobs. An explanation of jurisdiction. For Gonzalez's family, it doesn't explain the broken arm.

On Sunday, Gonzalez showed up at his son's soccer game wearing an arm sling. His daughter said he was in severe pain, could barely sit down, and could only stand up with difficulty and pain. He had wanted to leave the house anyway. Leslie asked for donations and described a father whose work had kept a roof over his family's head. She said she never would have believed something like this could happen to her family. Now she knows it can happen to anyone. An American passport offers protection on paper. Out on the street, someone first has to be willing to recognize it.

More than 500 cases involving detained American citizens have been documented since the beginning of Trump's second term. In more than 100 cases, agents questioned their citizenship, and at least 70 of those affected were children or teenagers. At least four U.S. citizens have been killed by Department of Homeland Security agents: Ruben Ray Martinez, Keith Porter Jr., Renee Good, and Alex Pretti. More than 50 immigrants have died in ICE custody since January 2025. Darius Reeves, the former head of ICE's Baltimore office, said he had never seen so many operations targeting U.S. citizens in his entire career. He called it a disgrace. Meanwhile, in Long Beach, a family is still waiting for a reasonable explanation of why a man carrying an American passport ended up lying in the gutter with a broken arm after going for a bike ride.