79-Year-Old Sues ICE, DHS for Slamming Him to the Ground During Raid: 'I Thought This Was a Nice Country'

A Los Angeles-area business owner has filed a $50 million lawsuit against federal immigration authorities, alleging he was violently detained during a September raid on his car wash.

Rafie Ollah Shouhed, 79, who owns Valley Car Wash in Van Nuys, claims masked agents with the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement forced him to the ground, piled on top of him, and denied him medical attention while he was held for 12 hours without charges.

"The only thing that those ICE agents said to him, as three of them piled on top of him, was, 'You don't f*** with ICE,'" civil rights attorney V. James DeSimone said at a Thursday press conference reported by The Independent. DeSimone added that surveillance video shows officers "immediately resort to force" rather than first seeking to determine immigration status.

According to the complaint, the incident took place on September 9 when federal agents raided the business. Shouhed, a U.S. citizen originally from Tehran, said he approached the officers to ask how he could assist them and was shoved to the ground. Later, when he offered to provide documentation for employees, he says agents again forced him down, this time with three men on top of him, including one pressing a knee against his neck.

Shouhed alleges the ordeal left him with broken ribs, an injured elbow, and a traumatic brain injury. He said he repeatedly told officers of his heart condition and begged for an ambulance. "I told them, I have a heart condition. I'm an old man, begging them, 'Let me go. I need to go to the hospital,'" he told NBC Los Angeles. "I thought this was a nice country, a good country. Why do they do this kind of thing to you?"

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the raid, describing it as a "targeted immigration enforcement operation" that resulted in the arrest of five undocumented immigrants from Guatemala and Mexico. DHS said Shouhed was arrested "for assaulting and impeding a federal officer" during the operation.

Shouhed and his attorneys deny that he ever engaged in violence or physical contact with officers, arguing instead that he was attempting to cooperate. His claim is a precursor to filing suit in federal court.