Livestream ICE Arrest Exposes TikTok Influencer as Illegal Alien Following Her DUI Conviction [WATCH]

A Colombian national who built a following on TikTok by filming and reporting on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Los Angeles live-streamed her own arrest last month.

Federal authorities later revealed she had entered the United States illegally in 2022, as reported by The New York Post.

Tatiana Martinez, 24, was taken into custody by ICE agents on August 15 while sitting in her vehicle at her apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles.

NEW: Illegal alien and TikTok influencer Tatiana Martinez was arrested today. She used her platform to alert protesters, encouraging them to interfere with and obstruct ICE and law enforcement in California.

What’s alarming is that Los Angeles parking enforcement follows ICE… pic.twitter.com/l2HYTVqBgP

— I Meme Therefore I Am (@ImMeme0) August 16, 2025

Her attorney, Carlos Jurado, said Martinez was targeted because of her social media activity, which included more than 47,000 followers tracking her videos of federal immigration enforcement actions.

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“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,” Jurado said after her arrest.

He added, “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.”

Federal officials pushed back on that claim, stating Martinez was arrested because she had illegally crossed the southern border in 2022 and was later convicted of driving under the influence in Los Angeles.

ICE said the DUI conviction prompted federal authorities to move forward with her arrest.

“This influencer drove under the influence — and got convicted for it in Los Angeles,” the agency wrote in a post on X following the arrest.

This influencer drove under the influence — and got convicted for it in Los Angeles.@Newsweek: Leidy Tatiana Mafla-Martinez aka Tatiana Martinez is a CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIEN from Colombia.

Don’t get caught under the influence of sanctuary policies — they reward criminal illegal… pic.twitter.com/PyKKGCPDe4

— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) August 20, 2025

According to Jurado, Martinez passed out as she was being taken into custody and was transported to a hospital before being moved to a federal detention facility in Calexico, near the U.S.-Mexico border. He confirmed he had visited her at the center.

“I’ve gone out there to visit her. It’s about a three-and-a-half, four-hour drive there and back. So I went there to visit her. She was really happy to just see someone,” Jurado said. “I can tell you that I could still see bruises on her body from the arrest.”

Law enforcement officials told the New York Post that Martinez was initially released into the country in 2022 after crossing the border illegally.

Her later criminal conviction, they said, triggered ICE’s enforcement action. She remains in federal custody in Calexico while her case proceeds.

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