The Department of Homeland Security has refuted claims that a Los Angeles mother was held at gunpoint by a bounty hunter and subsequently taken captive in a warehouse. This was confirmed by the lawyer and family of Julia Peraes Calderon, who spoke to reporters on Monday.
The family suspects the men involved were bounty hunters, according to attorney Stefano Medina. They reportedly stated that Calderon managed to call her family twice before being taken to an immigration office, where officials pressured her to sign documents for her self-deportation.
After refusing to comply, she was allegedly locked in the warehouse. Calderon mentioned that others had also been held there for months without any intention to self-deport. In response, DHS labeled the entire incident a fabrication, asserting it as a “strange story” that lacked credibility. They emphasized that the woman was never detained or “invited” to ICE, clarifying that ICE does not operate alongside private bounty hunters.
When questioned about DHS’s rejection of her claims, Calderon’s lawyer conceded that her name might not show up in the detainee locator system. However, they expressed concern over their loss of contact with her and share the belief that she remains in ICE custody.
Speculation has been rife over the past months regarding the agency’s engagement of private bounty hunters to help meet the DHS secretary’s arrest quotas, which reportedly escalated to 3,000 daily last month. In February, a man masquerading as a bounty hunter allegedly reached out to a local Team in Tacoma, offering an “illegal” bounty. Local officials disputed this narrative, asserting that no bounty hunters are affiliated with ICE.
In California, bounty hunters, known as “bond fugitive agents,” are heavily regulated, operating solely under the guidance of bond companies for those breaching bond agreements.
Meanwhile, proposed legislation in Mississippi and Missouri aims to enable bounty hunters to assist ICE. The Missouri bill, connected to a broader immigration reform package, is wading through Congress, but state Republicans have shown limited enthusiasm for the bounty hunter initiative. The Mississippi proposal, however, did not progress past the committee stage in February.
