Overview

• Benjamin Marcelo Guerrero-Cruz was taken into custody in Van Nuys while walking his dog and is now held at the Adelanto facility, according to DHS and local reports.
• An LAUSD teacher who visited him says he went about a week without a shower, clean clothes, or basic hygiene and slept beside a toilet before receiving a change of clothes.
• The teacher and family allege plainclothes men initially seized him, misidentified him, held him in a parking lot, and discussed being paid for the arrest, claims not verified by ICE.
• ICE did not respond to Newsweek’s inquiries, while DHS told the Los Angeles Times he overstayed a Visa Waiver Program departure date of March 15, 2023 and is detained pending removal.
• LAUSD leaders reaffirmed schools as safe spaces as educators and community members organized a downtown rally and raised funds to support his family and legal efforts within a broader surge in interior enforcement in Southern California.