The arrest of an illegal alien influencer has turned into a circus after a tow truck driver towed away a vehicle used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during the operation, but officials got the last laugh.
The incident from Aug. 18 unfolded on numerous videos, including the live stream of influencer Leidy Tatiana Mafla-Martinez, a 24-year-old illegal alien from Colombia. Critics of the administration say she was targeted because she was using her platform to warn illegal immigrants about the presence of ICE officials.
‘Now he can laugh behind bars while he faces justice.’
In one recording, the officers run after the vehicle as it is towed away while Mafla-Martinez is detained on the ground.
On Monday, acting U.S. Attorney General Bill Essayli said on social media that the tow truck driver, identified as Bobby Nunez, had been arrested.
“Bobby Nunez is now under arrest for brazenly towing an ICE vehicle. He is charged with theft of government property,” said Essayli.
“Apparently he thought it would be funny to interfere with our immigration enforcement operations,” he added. “Now he can laugh behind bars while he faces justice. Nunez is looking at up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted.”
Essayli included the video of the vehicle being towed away as well as a video of the arrest of Nunez.
The vehicle had a gun in a gun safe when it was towed away, according to the criminal complaint. Prosecutors said that Nunez was laughing as he towed the car and was live streaming himself. Investigators were able to track him down through his TikTok account.
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An attorney for Mafla-Martinez said that she did not cooperate with the officers’ commands because they had refused to present the warrant for her arrest.
“The reason she didn’t come out is, these are, these are masked men, and they said they had a warrant. She just wanted them to display it, ‘Show me the warrant,’ and they never displayed anything,” said her attorney Carlos Jurado.
A spokesperson for the White House said she had been arrested over a prior DUI conviction. Her attorney did not deny the conviction but claimed the real motivation for the arrest was her online activism against ICE.
“We believe, at this point, based on things that have been said to her, is that, because she was out filming ICE activities, she was targeted,” Jurado added. “There has been nothing that’s been stated to her by the arresting officers that stated that it was because of the DUI.”
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