Crowd confronts federal agents in Oxnard neighborhood – NBC Los Angeles

A crowd gathered on an Oxnard street early Wednesday morning after federal agents with an armored vehicle appeared in the community, where several immigration enforcement operations have drawn protests in recent months.

Video showed agents in Homeland Security Investigations vests and at least one armored vehicle about a half-block from two groups of people, some carrying signs, who gathered behind yellow tape stretched across both ends of the street.

Video from NewsChopper4 appeared to be a chemical agent was sprayed by one of the federal agents toward a person in the crowd.

Video also showed law enforcement agents take at least one person into custody as agents left he neighborhood in a convoy of SUVs and cars. At least one person appeared to throw something at one of the vehicles, the video showed.

The rear window of at least one of the SUV was shattered, but it was not immediately clear whether the SUV was a government vehicle or a resident’s.

The crowds left the scene later Wednesday morning.

Oxnard police told NBCLA they received a call from the Department of Homeland Security at about 6 a.m. indicating that the federal agency was serving a warrant in the area. Oxnard police did not respond to the location, but the department said DHS closed a street, served the federal warrant and left the area.

Details about the warrant were not immediately available.

NBCLA has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for more details about the federal law enforcement presence.

In June, demonstrators gathered outside Oxnard’s City Hall to protest immigration raids in local agricultural fields and packing facilities. Earlier this month, a collision between federal agents’ vehicle and a car in the community about 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles led to a protest with at least one person being taken into custody.

The immigration enforcement operations that began in June in Los Angeles and other Southern California communities are part of President Trump mass deportation plan, a central promise of his second campaign for the White House.

Through Oct. 6, more than 59,200 migrants had been taken into ICE detention since the start of President Trump’s second term, according NBC News, which used ICE data both public and internal as well as data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.

About 29% of those in detention had criminal convictions; 25 had pending criminal charges; 46.9% were listed as “other immigration violator;” and 10.7% were fast-tracked for deportation.