Social media influencer Tatiana Martinez was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while streaming live on TikTok to her thousands of followers.
The 24-year-old — whose full name is Leidy Tatiana Mafla-Martinez — was arrested on August 15 in downtown Los Angeles by federal agents who dragged her out of her Tesla. Videos of her arrest have now circulated online, and her attorney argues she was targeted because she used her social media platform to document ICE activity.
Video of the incident recorded from across the street appears to show at least three officers dragging Martinez out of her car. The officers held Martinez, who was screaming, by her limbs before putting her face down on the ground. Martinez can be heard shouting “wait, wait, I’ll get out,” in Spanish as she was placed on the ground, according to a translation by NBC News.
The footage also shows an individual, dressed in plain clothes, watching the arrest and speaking to the officers. One officer pushed the individual away after Martinez was dragged from the car.
Shortly after placing Martinez on the ground, one officer shouted, “Hey,” and ran off-screen. Someone had “unlawfully towed a government police vehicle” during the arrest, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek.
Another video shows a witness yelling for someone to call 911 after Martinez went motionless on the ground, NBC News reports. Martinez reported shortness of breath during the arrest and was taken to a hospital, a DHS official told The Independent.
Martinez is now being detained in Calexico, California.
Martinez’s attorney, Carlos Jurado, told ABC 7 she didn’t leave her car initially because the officers didn’t display a warrant.
“The reason she didn’t come out is, 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.
A DHS official said that Martinez, who is from Colombia, was detained following a prior DUI conviction in Los Angeles. The official said Martinez entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was “released by the Biden administration.”
However, Jurado says Martinez was targeted because of her online activity. Martinez has used social media to document ICE activity and provide information on immigration enforcement for her 47,000 followers, ABC 7 reports.
“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,” Jurado said.
“There has been nothing that’s been stated to her by the arresting officers that stated that it was because of the DUI,” he added.
Jurado said he’s visited Martinez in Calexico since the arrest.
“I’ve gone out there to visit her. It’s about a three-and-a-half, four-hour drive there and back,” he told ABC 7. “So I went there to visit her. She was really happy to just see someone. I can tell you that I could still see bruises on her body from the arrest.”
The Independent has contacted Jurado for comment.
