LOS ANGELES — A man died on Thursday after he was struck by vehicle on a freeway in Monrovia, California, as he was trying to flee an immigration raid at a Home Depot, officials said.

Federal immigration agents were seen conducting an operation near a Home Depot on Thursday morning in Monrovia, a city about 20 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, according to Dylan Feik, the city manager.

As the operation was unfolding, a man ran off, crossing a street and then entering the eastbound lanes of Interstate 210. The man, who was not identified, was taken to a hospital, where he died, Feik said in a statement.

Details about the immigration operation were unclear.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the person was “not being pursued by any DHS law enforcement.”

The agency added: “We do not know their legal status. We were not aware of this incident or notified by California Highway Patrol until hours after operations in the area had concluded.”

Officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

A portion of I-210 was briefly closed. The California Highway Patrol was investigating the episode.

“While we understand community members want to know more about the incident, the information provided in this update is all the city has to provide at this time,” Feik said. “We extend our condolences for the individual and his family.”

Palmira Figueroa, a spokesperson with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said that organizers were working to learn more about the crash and the man’s identity.

Figueroa said that 10 to 12 day laborers were believed to have been detained during the immigration operation. She described the operation as “pretty aggressive” and said that agents had pursued day laborers in their vehicles.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., whose district includes a portion of Monrovia, said on social media that the man’s death was “a result of the Trump administration’s strategy of sowing intimidation and fear throughout Los Angeles.”

The fatal crash Thursday came about a month after a similar episode in July at a cannabis farm in Ventura County.

During an immigration raid there last month, a Mexican farmworker died from injuries after falling several stories from a greenhouse as he was trying to flee immigration agents. The man, who was later identified as Jaime Alanís, fell more than 30 feet and suffered injuries to his spine and his skull, according to the United Farm Workers union.

Monrovia is one of dozens of cities across Southern California that have been targets of federal immigration operations this summer as the Trump administration has sought to increase the number of arrests of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.

Home Depot stores across the region have regularly been targeted by federal immigration agents. Day laborers often gather outside the stores looking for work. Last week, federal immigration agents conducted a raid, named Operation Trojan Horse, outside a Home Depot in Los Angeles. In that operation, agents jumped out of a Penske rental truck and ran onto the streets. The raid led to the arrests of 16 immigrants.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Jesus Jiménez
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