Community members try to help street vendor taken by federal agents in Ladera Heights, video shows

LADERA HEIGHTS, Calif. (KABC) -- Video shows community members rushing in to try and help a street vendor as she was taken by ICE agents in Ladera Heights.

The incident unfolded on Monday as Celina Ramirez was selling tacos on the sidewalk outside a Home Depot.

Aleca Le Blanc witnessed the incident and described the agents as: "Ten guys, all jacked up and armed, taking away a woman who probably weighs 100 pounds. That already is ridiculous."

Le Blanc captured the chaotic incident on video.

According to the National Day Laborer Organizing Network - which has set up a GoFundMe to help Celina's partner and their 4-year-old son - the 26-year-old came to the United States two years ago hoping for a better life.

Le Blanc says Ramirez was targeted simply because she's Latina.

"Drove up the street, saw her as an easy target and chased her down. None of them would identify their agencies, their names, badges, any of those things. They didn't know what her name was. They didn't have a warrant."

She says it happened in an instant as the agents dressed in street clothes chased after Ramirez after she ran across the street.

"What I saw just looked like men trying to abduct a woman off the street. This is the stuff of nightmares for women," Le Blanc added.

Several community members surrounded the agents, demanding their information as they took the woman into custody, but Le Blanc says that wasn't the end of the ordeal.

She says agents threw tear gas out as they raced away, and says the whole encounter was unheard of.

"It was really terrifying. As a human being, I don't care where you, who you are, where you're from, what your legal status is or isn't. Nobody should be treated this way."

Attorneys have been trying to track Ramirez's location, but have not been able to find out where she was taken.