ICE brokers smashed a Guatemalan man’s automotive window and forcibly pulled him from the automobile throughout a chaotic immigration arrest in Massachusetts — and the person’s lawyer says they’d the improper goal.
Juan Francisco Mendez, 29, and his spouse, Marilu Domingo Ortiz, have been sitting of their automotive in New Bedford, Mass., on April 14 once they have been approached by immigration brokers searching for somebody named “Antonio.”
When Mendez advised the brokers he wasn’t who they have been searching for — Antonio was reportedly a former resident in Mendez’s constructing — they demanded that he exit the automobile anyway, his lawyer alleges.
Mendez mentioned he want to look ahead to his lawyer to reach, and that’s once they smashed the window with a pickaxe-like device and eliminated him.
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By the point Mendez’s lawyer, Ondine Galvez Sniffin, arrived on the scene, his consumer was already in handcuffs.
“They mentioned they have been searching for a sure particular person, by a special identify,” Sniffin advised WBZ Boston. “I mentioned that is not my consumer… I do know my consumer’s historical past, that’s not him.”
ONDINE GALVEZ SNIFFIN
ICE agent smashes a automotive window on April 14, 2025
Mendez’s spouse and 9-year-old son are protected underneath asylum after the household fled their native nation of Guatemala. Mendez was ready on documentation to finalize his personal asylum standing when he was detained.
He’s at present being held at a detention facility in Dover, N.H., nonetheless, Sniffin mentioned she’s been unable to acquire any extra data on potential expenses or why he stays in custody.
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Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg by way of Getty
ICE brokers and police attend a January assembly forward of immigration raids in Chicago
Mendez’s arrest is the newest viral clip to return from President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Earlier this week, footage of federal brokers tackling a Venezuelan man in a New Hampshire courthouse — and bulldozing an aged bystander within the course of — was shared by a number of shops.
Arnuel Marquez Colmenarez, 33, was on the Nashua Circuit Court docket on Feb. 20 for an arraignment on misdemeanor expenses associated to an alleged drunk driving incident on Feb. 9. Nevertheless, earlier than he made it to court docket, he was thrown to the bottom and detained by the brokers.
An older man strolling with a cane was additionally caught up within the scuffle and fell on his again.
A decide later issued a bench warrant after Marquez Colmenarez failed to look for his arraignment. The Related Press reported that the prosecutor dealing with his case wasn’t contacted by brokers or made conscious of the arrest earlier than the arraignment.
As of Monday, April 14, Marquez Colmenaraz was being held at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas, in line with a web based database.
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