A man believed to have been fleeing a federal immigration raid at a Home Depot store in Southern California crossed into freeway traffic and was fatally struck by a vehicle on Thursday, according to local authorities.
Federal immigration officials have been targeting Home Depot stores as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts in recent months because of the number of day laborers who regularly show up to such places looking for work. The officials have been harshly criticized, however, for rounding up people without the kinds of criminal records that Trump and his allies have pledged to persecute.
The Department of Homeland Security distanced itself from the incident in a statement to HuffPost.
“This individual was not being pursued by any DHS law enforcement,” a spokesperson said, noting that they did not know the individual’s legal status.
“We were not aware of this incident or notified by California Highway Patrol until hours after operations in the area had concluded,” the agency said.
