--- title: Video of Woman's Arrest by Border Patrol Sparks Outrage description: A video of a woman identified as Perla Morales-Luna getting arrested by border patrol while her daughters looked on has sparked outrage canonical: https://time.com/5193468/perla-morales-luna-border-patrol-arrest-video/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-09T19:08:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:33.598Z article:section: Politics og:title: Outrage Over Mother Being Arrested by Border Patrol og:description: Her daughters were watching og:url: https://time.com/5193468/perla-morales-luna-border-patrol-arrest-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc776c060722214c1/6988e66dfb4eac70658949f3/gettyimages-869110684.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-IMMIGRATION og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Outrage Over Mother Being Arrested by Border Patrol twitter:description: Her daughters were watching twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc776c060722214c1/6988e66dfb4eac70658949f3/gettyimages-869110684.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Video of Mother Being Torn From Daughters by Border Patrol Sparks Outrage ## Video: A Day in A Dreamer’s Life [Watch (HLS stream): A Day in A Dreamer’s Life](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fE7SysOq.m3u8) (2:37)  _Published 2018-03-01. Corina Barranco starts each American day the same way she started her American life: by putting one foot in front of another._  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 9, 2018 7:08 PM UTC  U.S. Border Patrol officer Tekae Michael stands near prototypes of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall on Nov. 1, 2017. U.S. Border Patrol officer Tekae Michael stands near prototypes of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall on Nov. 1, 2017.Frederic J. Brown—AFP/Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 9, 2018 7:08 PM UTC A video of a woman named Perla Morales-Luna getting arrested by Border Patrol agents in California while her daughters look on has sparked outrage after it spread across social media. The video shows Morales-Luna, who authorities publicly identified, getting pushed into a border patrol vehicle on March 3 while her children watched in National City, California. Teaching aide Judith Castro-Gonzalez posted the video to Facebook on Thursday, [according to _CBS_ Los Angeles,](http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/03/08/national-city-mother-arrested-by-border-patrol-viral-video/) reportedly stating that one of Morales-Luna’s daughters was her student. Subsequently, the video quickly made the rounds on social media. The San Diego branch of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said that Morales-Luna was arrested because she was involved in a smuggling operation and was in the country illegally. A spokesperson for Border Patrol told the Los Angeles _Times_ that Morales-Luna will be transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to start removal proceedings. > [](https://twitter.com/CBPSanDiego/status/971948215317667840) The arrest has raised questions about the way authorities were treating Morales-Luna. Benjamin Prado, coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee’s San Diego U.S.-Mexico Border Program – which the Los Angeles _Times_ says is a human rights group working with Morales-Luna’s family – told the paper it was a “grotesque” way of enforcing immigration law. “It is very quickly accelerating to a very tyrannical form of detention and arrest, snatching people up off the street,” Prado told the Los Angeles _Times._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5193468/perla-morales-luna-border-patrol-arrest-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5193468/perla-morales-luna-border-patrol-arrest-video/"},"headline":"Video of Mother Being Torn From Daughters by Border Patrol Sparks Outrage","datePublished":"2018-03-09T19:08:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:53:33.598Z","description":"Border patrol said she was involved in a smuggling operation","url":"https://time.com/5193468/perla-morales-luna-border-patrol-arrest-video/","keywords":["Immigration","California","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc776c060722214c1/6988e66dfb4eac70658949f3/gettyimages-869110684.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc776c060722214c1/6988e66dfb4eac70658949f3/gettyimages-869110684.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-IMMIGRATION","caption":"US-POLITICS-IMMIGRATION","creditText":"Frederic J. 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