Video shows TikTok influencer being detained by federal agents in downtown LA

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A popular social media influencer is now in immigration custody, but why is she being detained? The confrontation with federal agents was live-streamed to her audience of thousands.

Tatiana Martinez, 24, was sitting in her car at home when the dramatic arrest happened, and it was caught on camera from multiple angles.

The video shows the woman getting pulled out of her Tesla by federal agents.

One angle is from Martinez's phone inside her car as agents were pulling her out. She was livestreaming on TikTok at the time.

"The reason she didn't come out is, these are, these are masked men, and they said they had a warrant. She just wanted them to display it, 'Show me the warrant,' and they never displayed anything," her attorney, Carlos Jurado, said.

Jurado says it happened while she was parked at her apartment building in downtown Los Angeles. He believes they detained her because she was using her platform with more than 47,000 followers to record and report ICE activity.

"We believe, at this point, based on things that have been said to her, is that, because she was out filming ICE activities, she was targeted," Jurado said.

Her attorney says she passed out due to trauma and was taken to the hospital. Martinez, who is originally from Colombia and came to the U.S. about four years ago, was then taken to a detention center in Calexico.

"I've gone out there to visit her. It's about a three-and-a-half, four-hour drive there and back. So I went there to visit her. She was really happy to just see someone," Jurado said. "I can tell you that I could still see bruises on her body from the arrest."

Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), told Newsweek that Martinez was arrested because of a prior DUI conviction in L.A., but Martinez's attorney says he still believes they came after her because she was using her platform.

"There has been nothing that's been stated to her by the arresting officers that stated that it was because of the DUI," Jurado said.

Eyewitness News reached out to DHS for an updated statement on Martinez, but has not heard back.