Marilu Mendez said when ICE vehicles began following her and her husband Monday and then surrounded their car on Tallman Street in New Bedford, she took out her cell phone and started recording.
Marilu said the agents were focused on her husband, Juan, but kept calling him “Antonio” — the name of another man who lives in their building.
Thinking this was just a case of mistaken identity, the Mendezes called their lawyer, who told them to stay in the car and not give the agents any information until she got there.
Their attorney, Ondine Galvez Sniffin, told NBC10 Boston that Juan Mendez is a Guatemalan immigrant who is undocumented but in the process of changing his immigration status and has no criminal record.
Marilu is in the country on asylum.
But instead of waiting for their lawyer, the ICE agents smashed the car window, broke into the vehicle and dragged the couple out.
“They looked for a hammer and they broke the car window and dragged us out of the car,” Marilu told Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra in Spanish. “Three ICE agents held my husband. They took us out unjustly… I tried to talk to them and ask them if they had an order to detain him. They didn’t respond or show me anything. They had no reason to detain him. We’ve been following the rules of this country. We are doing things the right way. That’s why we have a lawyer.”
Their attorney said Juan Mendez is now being held in a detention facility in Dover, New Hampshire, with a hearing scheduled for May 7.
“My clients were within their rights, they were very respectful and following and exerting their rights and stating their right to remain silent and stating their right to have legal representation and they were met with brutality,” Galvez Sniffin said. “They were met with violence.”
ICE has not responded to NBC10 Boston’s requests for comment.
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell issued a statement on social media on Tuesday.
“The incident raises questions that require clearer answers,” he said. “Recently, ICE appears to have broken from its long-standing practice of alerting our police department ahead of planned operations, a decision that poses safety risks to officers, ICE agents, and the public alike.” It also may preclude opportunities for local police to help deescalate tense situations like this last one.”
Mitchell said there has been no indication from ICE whether its agents are focusing on the apprehension of convicted criminals or is engaging in “an indiscriminate round up of individuals with uncertain immigrant status.” He added that the public deserves an explanation from the Trump administration.
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