Near Los Angeles, a 79-year-old American man was violently tackled to the ground by immigration police during a raid on his car wash.

A 79-year-old American man, violently tackled to the ground by immigration police (ICE) during a raid on his car wash near Los Angeles, announced Thursday that he is seeking $50 million in damages from the Trump administration.

The agents behaved like "bounty hunters," Rafie Shouhed, a businessman of Iranian origin who has lived in the United States since the 1980s, told reporters.

This Donald Trump voter suffered cracked ribs and may have suffered a head injury, according to his lawyers. Two weeks after the raid, he still has a swollen left elbow and a large bruise on his right forearm.

"I can't breathe"

Surveillance video from his car wash shows him being violently pushed to the ground by a masked officer who continued to drive. Rafie Shouhed then attempted to argue with a police officer who was arresting an employee when another officer grabbed his arms. A third officer then threw him to the ground, where he was face down for several seconds, with one of the officers pressing his knee on his head.

"Three people sit on me, and I beg them: 'I can't breathe! I can't breathe!'" said Mr. Shouhed, who suffers from cardiovascular weakness.

The man claims he simply wanted to provide the police with his employees' work permits. "They didn't say anything to me other than, 'You're not looking for ICE!'" the acronym for the U.S. immigration police, he said. After repeatedly stating that he was an "American citizen," he was taken to a detention center and held for about 12 hours.

"Pure invention"

Contacted by AFP, the Department of Homeland Security explained that it had arrested "five illegal immigrants from Guatemala and Mexico" during this raid. Rafie Shouhed "obstructed the operation and was arrested for assaulting and obstructing a federal agent," the department added, which did not initiate legal proceedings.

"This is all pure fabrication (...) it's defamation," his lawyer, Jim DeSimone, said indignantly. "How many people have to be seriously injured or die before we change the way these ICE agents intervene and use excessive force before asking questions?" he slammed.

Muscular operations

Trump's heavy-handed immigration enforcement operations are controversial in California. In June, protests, sometimes violent, took place in Los Angeles. Over the summer, an undocumented immigrant died during an operation in the region, and several Americans were briefly detained.

To avoid racial profiling, a judge imposed restrictions on how agents operate during the summer, which were lifted by the Supreme Court in early September. In that decision, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, speaking for the conservative majority, argued that ICE agents "immediately release" the American citizens they are screening.

The Supreme Court is "living in Care Bear land, if they think that's what's going on," DeSimone said. "These ICE agents aren't giving people the opportunity to communicate with them."