BREAKING🚨ICE dragged a 66-year-old man with a green card down the front steps of his own home. Eight months later he collapsed in his cell with sepsis — oozing sores, swollen feet, and hair falling out. Rafael Vela Gonzalez spent more than three decades in the same Silver Lake neighborhood, building the crib that welcomed one couple's first baby, painting bedrooms, fixing plumbing, running the block's recycling. He retired a few years ago and spent his days caring for his partner of over 30 years, 81-year-old Vivian Lee Arguello. Itzel Luna of the Los Angeles Times first reported the full story of what happened next. In early January, two ICE agents grabbed him a few steps from his front door. Lee Arguello was on the couch when she heard him scream. Her mobility issues make it hard to walk unassisted, and by the time she reached the door he was already being pulled down the street. Video shows him dragged down the concrete steps and pushed to the ground before a third agent handcuffed him. "I couldn't do anything to help him," she said. Vela Gonzalez came from El Salvador at 19, two years after he was forced into the Salvadoran army at the start of the civil war. He qualified for the 1986 amnesty law, got a temporary green card, and carried it in his wallet for nearly five decades. He lost the wallet in 2023 and applied for a replacement. His attorney, Barbara Darnell, suspects that application is what put him on ICE's radar. It was denied in April 2025. Homeland Security says he was taken in a "targeted operation" and will stay in custody pending removal. He complained of stomach pain for weeks, then collapsed in his cell in June right after a court hearing. Adelanto refused to tell Lee Arguello or Darnell where he was, citing HIPAA. They found out from his cellmate. Homeland Security later said he was hospitalized June 17 to 22 for acute bronchitis and sepsis, and says all detainees receive comprehensive medical care. Four people have died at Adelanto since September. A federal judge ordered the government in July to fix the DRINKING WATER and medical care there. The government appealed, arguing it can't be held liable for GEO Group, the private company it pays to run the place. His bond was denied in July. The court called him a flight risk. Lee Arguello has moved in with a niece in Lynwood and now has to sell the house. Chico, his German shepherd, was rehomed last month after searching for men who looked like him on every walk. If you appreciate my posts, it would mean the world if you followed my page. Thank you for being here.