Mexico City – More than half of Mexican citizens arrested by immigration agents in the United States and recently interviewed by Mexican consular authorities in Los Angeles had been living in the United States for at least a decade, and more than one third had lived in the United States for more than 20 years.
Almost a third of the interviewees had children born in the United States.
Those are among the findings of a study published on Tuesday by Carlos González Gutiérrez, the Mexican general consul in Los Angeles.
The findings, said the consul, exposes as false the general notion that many of the detainees during the raids of the Trump administration work had recently crossed the border.
The horse riders are going on the way along Alondra Boulevard in Compton during the Human Rights Unit trip as they produce ongoing ice writings in the Metropolitan Area of Los Angeles on June 22, 2025.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
“It is clear that most of these people had made roots in this country and joined the United States society,” said the consul. “These types of operations create fear, they create panic.”
Los Angeles County is home to the largest immigrants community in Mexico.
The survey results come from 330 Mexican citizens detained interviewed since June 6, when the United States immigration officials launched a series of ongoing raids, until July 7.
Individuals, 309 men and 21 women, all adults, were interviewed in a federal building in downtown Los Angeles after being arrested “as a result of the operations carried out by several federal agencies,” said the consulate in a press release.
Ana Banuelos, 43, agitates a flag during protests against immigration raids at Glass House Farm on July 10, 2025 in Camarillo.
(Julie Leopo / for the Times)
Dozens of Mexican citizens arrested in other federal sites and during the recent raids in the Glass House cannabis facilities in the counties of Ventura and Santa Barbara were not included in the findings.
Of the respondents, said the consulate, 52% had resided for at least a decade in the United States, and 36% had resided in the country for more than 20 years. Almost 1 in 3 – 31% – Children was born in the United States.
The Mexican citizens detained included in the survey worked in a wide variety of occupations, said the consulate, but the largest sectors represented were washed cars (16.4%), construction (13.3%), factories (13%) and landscape (11.5%).
“The vast majority are working people who have contributed to the economy of southern California for years,” said the consulate.
It is not known how many of the 330 Mexican citizens had been deported to Mexico or how many decided to fight against the elimination in court.
“Each deportation is devastating for those involved,” said the consul. “In all cases there is a person or family that pays a high price and is emblematic of the high human cost that is implicit behind each deportation.”
Diplomats assigned to the wide network of consulates in Mexico throughout the United States have the task of speaking with Mexican citizens detained and trying to provide legal and other help.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has publicly denounced the “persecution” of immigrants during the recent American raids, has addressed consular authorities to intensify their help in the light of the Mass Deportation Program of the Trump administration.
