sa国际传媒官网网页入口

A feud between American-born delivery drivers for Walmart鈥檚 grocery service and Spanish-speaking 鈥渄eliveristas鈥� may have led to recent federal immigration arrests in the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 area 鈥� including one that drew national attention this week, Source New Mexico has learned.

On Monday, a Walmart customer captured video of federal immigration enforcement agents cornering a man inside a Walmart at Coors and Interstate 40. In the video, he screams for help as three agents, two of whom are masked, subdue him with a Taser. He falls to the ground and appears to hit his head.

While the federal agents stand over him, a Walmart official enters the video frame shouting at one person to 鈥済et back to work鈥� and approaches the person filming. He orders her to leave the store, saying she鈥檚 on 鈥減rivate property.鈥� The 20-second video ends as private security officers begin to escort the woman out of the store.

The woman who filmed the arrest, who goes by Vero Veronica on Facebook, posted the video a little after 11 a.m. on July 7. It鈥檚 since amassed millions of online views, along with comments expressing shock at the violent nature of an unarmed man鈥檚 arrest and curiosity about what role, if any, Walmart played in an operation that occurred in its store.

In interviews Thursday with Source NM, family and friends identified the man in the video as Deivi Jose Molina-Pena, a 33-year-old whom they said arrived in the United States legally under Temporary Protected Status about two years ago from Venezuela.

With the help of a Spanish interpreter, family and friends said they have not heard from Molina-Pena apart from a brief phone call Monday evening to his roommate, Jean Carlos Useche, during which he seemed to be 鈥渋n shock鈥�; described severe pain in his head; and asked Useche to take care of his belongings and other small-seeming logistical things.

Useche鈥檚 eyes welled with tears as he expressed his fear that his friend was concussed or had other untreated head injuries, and that he鈥檇 face retribution from the military if the U.S. deports him to Venezuela.

鈥淗e hit his head when he fell. He has something in his head that doesn鈥檛 go away right away,鈥� Useche said. ICE 鈥渘eeds to conduct an in-depth study there.鈥�

Molina-Pena and his friends and family who spoke to Source on Thursday all come from Venezuela and are seeking asylum here while working as delivery drivers, including for Spark, Walmart鈥檚 grocery delivery service.

Molina-Pena met Useche and their fellow roommate Jose Vergel while driving for the app. His cousin, Daisy Diaz, worked as a Spark driver until becoming pregnant about six months ago, she said. Her husband, Segundo Torres, supports his growing family driving for the service now, he said.

The group describes app-based work like being a Spark driver as a flexible way to earn a living, and one that also helps them maximize wages by simply working for as many apps at a time as possible.

But since President Donald Trump took office in January, the group told Source New Mexico, being a 鈥渄eliverista鈥� has become increasingly dangerous, with long-simmering resentment coming from American-born Spark drivers who accuse them of stealing their turf and gaming the system.

鈥淭he thing is that after the new president took office, racism increased,鈥� Torres said. 鈥淩acist people 鈥� they already have it in for you.鈥�

Calling ICE on 鈥榙eliveristas鈥�

Source spoke with one sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Spark driver who confirmed the internal tension among employees may have led to the ICE incident.

A driver named Zack told Source on Wednesday that he and fellow American-born Spark drivers have repeatedly called an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hotline to tip off the agency about where the 鈥渄eliveristas鈥� gather and how to find them.

Zack declined to provide his last name out of fear, he said, from reprisal from 鈥済angs鈥� like Tren de Aragua he alleges conscript Latino delivery drivers in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 and elsewhere. (Torres and the others adamantly denied being in gangs: 鈥淚t鈥檚 all political propaganda,鈥� he said.)

Source received a call from Zack after soliciting Spark driver interviews in a private Facebook group. Source included his statements in this story because they provide the best glimpse available into why ICE may have targeted sa国际传媒官网网页入口 鈥渄eliveristas.鈥�

鈥淒rivers are taking matters into their own hands. I know I sat on the hotline for over an hour and a half,鈥� Zack said of calling ICE recently. 鈥淏ut I couldn鈥檛 get through.鈥�

Other drivers made calls to the hotline about 鈥渄eliveristas鈥� whom he knows often gather at the north end of the parking lot of a Rio Rancho Walmart parking lot, he said.

On June 5, a team of federal law enforcement agents swept the Rio Rancho Walmart, detaining as many as a dozen 鈥渄eliveristas鈥� from Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia and elsewhere, according to delivery drivers who either witnessed the arrests or personally knew people detained. Brian Nobes, a supervisor at First Convenient Bank inside the store, worked the day the arrests occurred and told Source he personally knew several of the drivers, whom he said disappeared from the store the day after the arrests.

Witnesses and others estimate agents arrested as many as 12 people during the Rio Rancho sweep. At least three of them remain in jail, according to fellow 鈥渄eliveristas,鈥� though none has been confirmed to be deported yet, they said.

ICE officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Source last week about the Rio Rancho parking lot sweep or the viral arrest inside the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 store, including questions about whether calls to its hotline resulted in ICE targeting the 鈥渄eliveristas.鈥� An unnamed ICE spokesperson told KRQE on Thursday that Molina-Pena 鈥減osed an immediate threat to the safety of agents, shoppers and employees.鈥�

However, Zack鈥檚 description of whom agents targeted during the raid, which has not been previously publicized, tracks with eyewitness accounts and statements from local law enforcement.

For example, Lt. John Casta帽eda with the Sandoval County Sheriff鈥檚 Office told Source that his office served a 鈥渟upport鈥� role in the arrests at the Rio Rancho Walmart, and while he did not know who was targeted or how many were arrested, he described the operation as focused solely on its parking lot.

鈥楪reen light鈥� for hatred

The tension between sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Spark drivers echoes a national trend in various industries, one intensified with Trump鈥檚 election and rhetoric.

鈥淭he messaging coming from the White House is that anybody who is targeting undocumented individuals, whether they are government officials or not, are heroes and should be praised,鈥� said Lauryn Pfrommer-Pease, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center.

She鈥檚 seen the ICE hotline wielded against her center鈥檚 clients by former partners, ex-coworkers or random community members. It鈥檚 become a powerful tool for non-immigrants to wield against those they suspect of being foreign-born, she said, over personal disputes or for strategic advantage.

The dispute here between Spark drivers 鈥渇eels pretty representative of the hostile energy in the country right now,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think that the administration has put a green light in place for individual, person on person, attacks and hatred.鈥�

Torres said a man in a Walmart parking lot two weeks ago photographed license plates of Latino drivers. Vergel said he and fellow 鈥渄eliveristas鈥� were eating lunch in his car recently when a woman reached her hand into the open window and flipped everyone off.

Last April, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and other Republican senators introduced legislation calling on major delivery apps like Grubhub and DoorDash to answer for a New York Post article that quoted a single Uber delivery driver who warned that newly arrived immigrants were evading background checks or falsifying their applications. As a result, immigrants driving for the apps 鈥渋s a significant security issue鈥� given that 鈥渨e go inside peoples鈥� homes,鈥� the Uber driver said in the article.

A driver for four years in sa国际传媒官网网页入口, Zack accused recent immigrants of gaming the Spark delivery system by using multiple phones and accounts to select the most lucrative deliveries; falsifying account or driver information; and loitering in Walmart parking lots so they can get the first dibs on customers orders.

As a result, he said, he had to take a second job driving for Uber at night to make ends meet, and he claims immigrants鈥� poor customer service has resulted in customers shopping elsewhere.

In the days following the Rio Rancho Walmart arrests, Zack said, he and fellow 鈥渓egitimate鈥� drivers got more orders than usual, he said. The same occurred this week at the Coors location, he told Source on Thursday.

In the interview at Las Cumbres Community Services in sa国际传媒官网网页入口, where Diaz and Torres received some recent support as asylum seekers, they adamantly denied cheating the Spark app.

Instead, they said they buy their cars honestly and fairly like everyone else, and undergo background and other checks before being approved to drive. Torres said 鈥渄eliveristas鈥� often use two phones, 鈥渙ne personal, one professional,鈥� to dedicate hard drive space to the Spark app, advice he said he received from fellow drivers and Walmart鈥檚 technical support team.

As for waiting in the parking lot, Torres and others said it鈥檚 a good way to get as many orders as possible, a strategy others could employ if they chose. He said he is unaware of any Spark app rule he and other 鈥渄eliveristas鈥� might be breaking.

Instead, he said he and his fellow 鈥渄eliveristas鈥� are just working harder than their American counterparts. He and fellow 鈥渄eliveristas鈥� typically spent most days sitting in various Walmart parking lots and stepping out to do deliveries at all times of the day and night, he said.

鈥淥ur American dream is to sleep,鈥� Torres said, laughing.

Just take Molina-Pena as an example of that hard work, he said.

鈥楾argeted鈥� at work

Like most days, Molina-Pena woke up at 3 a.m. on Monday to deliver packages for Amazon, according to Torres and Molina-Pena鈥檚 roommates. He completed several deliveries before taking a short rest and then heading back to Walmart for his Spark gig.

When he arrived for his second or third Walmart delivery of the day, federal agents confronted him in the Coors location parking lot, Molina-Pena鈥檚 roommates and family believe, based on a brief conversation with him Monday evening and after speaking with another driver with whom Molina-Pena was on the phone during the arrest.

Molina-Pena ran inside, believing he鈥檇 be safe inside the 鈥減rivate property,鈥� but ICE agents followed him. Maria Lozoya Baca, a bank employee, told Source this week that she saw private security officers run toward the aisle where Molina-Pena was arrested.

鈥淗e wasn鈥檛 even doing anything; he was just there,鈥� she told Source. 鈥淚t was weird to me that it was targeted, that it was just him.鈥�

Molina-Pena鈥檚 family and friends wonder what role Walmart might have played in his arrest and all mentioned how the leaders at the Walmart that relied on his delivery work showed more concern about the video of the arrest than the arrest itself.

鈥淲e believe that sometimes it is also Walmart managers [who are to blame]鈥� Useche said regarding ICE鈥檚 targeting of delivery drivers. 鈥淓ven in the video, the manager gets in the way and says, 鈥榠t鈥檚 private property鈥� and starts fighting to stop the recording.鈥�

Walmart spokesperson Joe Pennington declined to comment on the record, including about whether Walmart knew of in advance or approved either ICE operation.

sa国际传媒官网网页入口 police, which, unlike Sandoval County, have a policy of not collaborating with ICE, learned about the arrest from federal immigration authorities after the-fact, said spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos. He said federal officials told APD that Molina-Pena had a 鈥渧iolent history鈥� and had run from police in the past, but did not provide any more information about their arrestee, including his name. The unnamed ICE agent that spoke to KRQE cited a prior DWI arrest and said Molina-Pena had tried to evade police during that incident.

Court records show New Mexico State Police charged Molina-Pena in late June with driving while intoxicated and fleeing from police. He told officers who pulled him over for allegedly failing to maintain lanes a little after midnight on June 26 that he鈥檇 had only two beers, including one in the last 20 minutes, and that he fled because, in his home country, 鈥渨hite and red lights were not used by law enforcement personnel,鈥� according to charging documents.

Online immigration records show Molina-Pena is being held in ICE custody in El Paso. Julia Montany, director of immigrant and refugee services, told Source and Molina-Pena鈥檚 family and friends that the American Civil Liberties Union will meet with them soon to discuss next steps and help them contact him.

New Mexico Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury鈥檚 office is also seeking a conversation with the family to intervene on Molina-Pena鈥檚 behalf, Montany said and, late Thursday, sa国际传媒官网网页入口 City Councilor Klarissa Pe帽a issued a public statement calling on ICE to provide transparency about the arrest, 鈥減articularly in how the agency determines targets for detention.鈥�

She also called for clarity on the role of retailers and delivery companies in such situations, because 鈥渢he community deserves to understand their policies regarding ICE activity so individuals can make informed choices when working or shopping.鈥�

But Molina-Pena鈥檚 friends and family aren鈥檛 holding out much hope for help, they told Source. The arrest has already resulted in fewer 鈥渄eliveristas鈥� at both Walmarts that ICE hit, according to employees at both stores, and had ripples for those who knew the man whose arrest echoed across the country.

鈥淲e are a family,鈥� Useche said of his roommate and the other 鈥渄eliveristas鈥� in sa国际传媒官网网页入口. 鈥淚f someone is sick, someone will go find medicine, whatever it takes.鈥�

Molina-Pena鈥檚 cousin and cousin鈥檚 husband were expecting Molina-Pena to move in with them in the coming days, but now they鈥檙e not sure how they鈥檒l pay rent, especially with a baby on the way.

And Molina-Pena鈥檚 roommates said the arrest cemented their plan to move to Alabama where they鈥檒l join a friend in a small town there where they say it鈥檚 safer for Latinos.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a pretty high Latino population here, and we felt good here,鈥� Useche said of sa国际传媒官网网页入口. 鈥淏ut not now, now there鈥檚 persecution that we don鈥檛 want anymore.鈥�