![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP25192084211031.jpg.jpg\")
The Pentagon also said Tuesday it was ending the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles. That\u2019s roughly half the number the administration sent to the city following protests over the immigration actions. Some of those troops have been accompanying federal agents during their immigration enforcement operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Retes said he joined the Army at 18 and served four years, including deploying to Iraq in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI joined the service to help better myself,\u201d he said. \u201cI did it because I love this (expletive) country. We are one nation and no matter what, we should be together. All this separation and stuff between everyone is just the way it shouldn\u2019t be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Veteran pledges to sue federal authorities for his ordeal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Retes said he plans to sue for wrongful detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe way they\u2019re going about this entire deportation process is completely wrong, chasing people who are just working, especially trying to feed everyone here in the U.S.,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one deserves to be treated the way they treat people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Retes was detained along with California State University Channel Islands professor Jonathan Caravello, also a U.S. citizen, who was arrested for throwing a tear gas canister at law enforcement, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The California Faculty Association said Caravello was taken away by agents who did not identify themselves nor inform him of why he was being taken into custody. Like Retes, the association said the professor was then held without being allowed to contact his family or an attorney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Caravello was attempting to dislodge a tear gas canister that was stuck underneath someone\u2019s wheelchair, witnesses told KABC-TV, the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A federal judge on Monday ordered Caravello to be released on $15,000 bond. He\u2019s scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI want everyone to know what happened. This doesn\u2019t just affect one person,\u201d Retes said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if your skin is brown. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re white. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re a veteran or you serve this country. They don\u2019t care. They\u2019re just there to fill a quota.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Associated Press writer Jamie Ding contributed from Los Angeles.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Army vet was arriving at work when federal agents surrounded his car, broke his window, pepper sprayed him, dragged him out and arrested him, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":109378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,25,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3092],"class_list":["post-72637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ASMKOOLIFRFBXDE43RGA4LNV44","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2025\/07\/17\/veteran-and-us-citizen-arrested-by-ice-warns-it-could-happen-to-anyone\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP25192084032237.jpg.jpg\")