A man running away from immigration authorities was struck and killed on a freeway in Monrovia, city officials announced Thursday.
A vigil was scheduled for Friday evening at a Monrovia Home Depot store where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid prompted a man to flee onto the Foothill (210) Freeway, where he was struck by an SUV, Monrovia City Manager Dylan Feik said.
The man’s name has not been released pending notification of relatives, according to the California Highway Patrol. However, acquaintances identified him to ABC7 as 52-year-old Carlos Roberto Montoya.
According to a GoFundMe page raising funds for Montoya’s family, he was a day laborer from Guatemala. Montoya resided in Arcadia, according to published reports.
Shortly before 10 a.m. Thursday, Monrovia police received a call about ICE activity at The Home Depot, 1625 Mountain Ave. During that enforcement operation, a man fled on foot across Evergreen Avenue and onto the eastbound side of the 210 Freeway, where a vehicle struck him near Myrtle Avenue, Feik and the CHP reported.
The man was struck by a 2024 Ford Expedition SUV driven by a 51-year-old man at 50 to 60 mph in the far-left lane. The man later identified as Montoya suffered major injuries and was taken to a hospital, where he died, according to the CHP and Feik.
“There is no ongoing ICE activity reported in Monrovia at this time, and the city has not received any communication or information from ICE,” Feik said in a statement Thursday. “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.”
Monrovia officials offered “condolences for the individual and his family” and requested that the public “not contact the Monrovia Police Department emergency or non-emergency lines for any updates or additional information regarding this incident as these calls delay responses to ongoing emergencies.”
Protesters expressed outrage over the death during a rally Thursday at The Home Depot where the immigration raid took place. Demonstrators caledl for an end to the ongoing enforcement operations targeting alleged illegal immigrants in Los Angeles and Southern California.
The National Day Laborer Organizing Network scheduled a vigil at the store for 6 p.m. Friday.
“The worker was fleeing an unannounced raid by immigration agents, the latest in an ongoing wave of violent, chaotic kidnappings and assaults that ICE and other agencies are waging at Home Depots and other locations across Southern California,” according to a statement from the group.
On Thursday, state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Pasadena, condemned ICE raids and referred to the death, which occurred in her district.
“President Trump’s terror campaign has taken another life,” Pérez said in a statement. “My heart goes out to the family of the man killed today on the 210 Freeway in my district. There is such incredible fear in our immigrant communities, so much so that people will run into freeway traffic out of fear when all they want is a chance to support their family and seek the American Dream.”
Pérez called for an end to “these violent, sweeping raids,” adding that “the Trump administration is violating a federal court order by continuing to conduct deadly roving immigration raids within the area of the U.S. District Court’s Central District of California that includes Los Angeles County. These raids have been ruled to be illegal racial profiling by a federal judge and the Trump administration has been ordered to comply with a temporary restraining order.
“How many more brown-skinned people have to die before the President will obey the law?” the senator concluded. “There is a better way. Comprehensive immigration reform that both parties work on is the only solution. I renew my call to pursue this path and stop the terror.”
Referring to the freeway fatality, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told HeySoCal.com, “This individual was not being pursued by any DHS law enforcement. 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 did not comment on whether any arrests were made Thursday in Monrovia during the immigration raid.
DHS officials have denied allegations that operations are carried out randomly and in violation of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment.
“Every single one of our ICE and Border Patrol operations is built on information, on investigative work,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Thursday, referring to a downtown Los Angeles raid outside a building where Gov. Gavin Newsom was holding a news conference.
She said ICE agents do operations at specific locations “because of who they think could be in that area and what they have for information that shows there are illegal criminals there. Remember we’re focusing on the worst of the worst.”
In a statement earlier this month, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin defended the raids that started June 6 and have been ongoing throughout LA and Southern California counties.
“What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S. — NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity,” McLaughlin said. “America’s brave men and women are removing murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, rapists — truly the worst of the worst from Golden State communities. 70% of ICE arrests are of criminal illegal aliens who have been convicted or have pending charges. President Trump and Secretary Noem are putting the American people first by removing illegal aliens who pose a threat to our communities.”
According to the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, “These aggressive raids have been terrorizing immigrant workers, turning ordinary workdays into scenes of fear, chaos and violence,” the group posted on the GoFundMe Page it established for Montoya’s family. “Carlos wasn’t a criminal — he was a man looking for work to provide for his loved ones.”
The CHP asked anyone with information about the pedestrian fatality on the 210 in Monrovia to contact Officer J. Rosas during business hours at 626-517-8500.
Updated Aug. 16, 2025, 11:42 a.m.
