Before ICE intervened, Rafie Ollah Shouhed planned to spend his final years in Van Nuys, California, running his Valley Car Wash. The 79-year-old businessman says that, however, a group of masked federal agents pinned him down and yelled “You don’t f— with ICE,” while the old man was face-down on the ground.
Shouhed has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol, and ICE, saying that a September 9 raid went wrong and left him ashamed, attacked, and wounded. Although the event took place at a local car wash in broad daylight, his lawsuit reads like something from a dystopian thriller.
Shouhed and his advocate, civil rights attorney V. James DeSimone, insist that the ICE officers pushed him and went too far. The 79-year-old was apparently shoved to the ground and then assaulted again as he tried to sign off on his employees’ legal status, as seen in surveillance footage showing him approaching agents to ask what was happening.
What started as a planned ICE operation grew into what Shouhed calls a nightmare. He says that even though he told the police that he had a heart condition, he didn’t get an ambulance. Agents reportedly piled on top of him instead, left him struggling for air, and then took him to the Metropolitan Detention Center without offering him any health care.
Shouhed says he had an elbow injury, broken ribs, and post-concussive symptoms that were typical of a traumatic brain injury when ICE released him without filing any charges. “I thought this was a nice country, a good country.” Shocked that his decades as a U.S. citizen didn’t shield him from such treatment, he asked NBC Los Angeles, “Why do they do this kind of thing to you? “
ICE, however, claimed the raid followed standard procedure. They arrested five undocumented immigrants from Guatemala and Mexico during the raid, which the Department of Homeland Security claims was legitimate and successful. ICE had deported one of those arrested twice before. Shouhed was not just a bystander, according to officials; DHS claims he “impeded the operation” and was arrested for “assaulting and impeding a federal officer.”
Tensions have already erupted in Los Angeles over previous ICE raids. The administration of Donald Trump has sent National Guard and even U.S. Marine Corps troops to try to keep order after protests have toppled the city all summer. Agents have been probed by civil rights organizations for racial profiling and carrying out “roving patrols” to target people based on how they look or language usage.
On the other hand, California lawmakers just enacted a bill that bans law enforcement from wearing masks while carrying out operations. This pass is for what Governor Gavin Newsom called the “secret police” vibe of masked ICE agents. However, the White House has stated that federal officers are exempt from the state’s new law.
This lawsuit adds gasoline to the fire. His legal team says that the video is going to show a culture of unnecessary force within ICE operations, not just the callous treatment of a single man. It remains to be seen how the courts will respond. For the time being, the picture of a 79-year-old grandfatherly figure getting body-slammed at his own car wash has fueled California’s ICE enforcement row.
NEXT UP: ICE Agent Tackles Woman to the Floor in NYC Immigration Office After Her Husband’s Detention
