Two Fresno men were accused of performing social media stunts, raised among U.S. immigration and customs law enforcement officers and filmed themselves harassing local businesses, putting undocumented communities in the area for weeks after the actual ice raid in the Central Valley puts undocumented communities on the edge.
According to the Fresno Police Department, the two wigs and black tactical vests were worn on letters, so they read “Police” and “Ice” and reportedly face-to-face with community members of 11 businesses. Police said at a store they told employees that they were conducting an investigation and asked to view specific business documents.
Police say two men who harassed Fresno business were wearing black vests, some of which were covered by letters.
(Fresno Police Department)
Police arrested the men on Wednesday on suspicion of imitating a police officer misdemeanor. They were cited and later released.
“Since their actions are merely intended to attract attention from personal social media pages, we do not post their names or other information,” the department said.
The department learned about social media stunts when it began receiving many calls complaining about harassment Wednesday morning. The officer then found the suspect outside a business at River Park Mall.
The fake interrogation of these men follows several ice operations in California after President Trump vowed to carry out the biggest deportation effort in U.S. history.
In January, ice officials carried out a three-day attack in rural Kern County, resulting in the detention and deportation of dozens of undocumented farm workers. Operation Undercover Ice has also been reported recently in Madera and San Jose.
The social media stunt of Fresno imitators showed off two weeks after the obvious YouTube Pranksters, which carried out a fake raid at San Francisco City Hall by pretending to be a department of government efficiency workers. On February 14, the men roamed in Doge T-shirts, telling workers that they would review their computer systems, ask for sensitive data, and call a worker’s job a “stupid S” list.
Comedian Danny Mullen posted a video about the encounter on YouTube. The San Francisco Police Department is investigating the incident to determine whether the pseudonym violates any law.
In June last year, the Anaheim Police Department arrested two men, suspected of pretending to be ice sheet agents, to rob Latino residents.
According to the victim’s testimony, two ice imitators talked to residents with Spaniards, showed fake badges, and then continued to make money from them before hitting the car.
At that time, Sergeant Anaheim. Jon McClintock said he realized there were at least five identical thefts in Anaheim and Orange County.
In 2018, a Santa Ana man blackmailed a $5,000 woman under threat of deportation and was sentenced to eight months in prison.
