Walmart Employee Fired After Getting Detained While Trying to 'Stick Up' for Coworker Confronted by ICE

A Walmart employee in California was fired after he was detained for intervening when immigration agents confronted a janitor at his workplace last week.

Adrian Andrew Martinez, 20, said he was tackled and detained by several Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers after attempting to defend the coworker, who was being questioned, KTLA reported. In a video of the incident, a bystander can be heard telling agents that Martinez is a U.S. citizen, but the officers continued to restrain him.

"I was just trying to get up and get them off me," Martinez told KTLA. "I didn't know what was going on. I was very confused and scared because they weren't explaining what they were doing."

Martinez was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a federal officer, a claim he denies. He was released on $5,000 bond and has not been charged with assault, though he faces a felony count of conspiracy to impede or injure a federal agent.

Despite being fired by Walmart, Martinez said he does not regret his actions.

"I was just there trying to stick up, speak up for a man that couldn't speak up for himself," he added.