****THIS IS A LENGTHY ARTICLE THAT INCLUDES VIDEO ICE AGENTS HAD NO WARRANT, WERE NOT IDENTIFIED, BROKE THE CAR WINDOW & ASSAULTED OCCUPANTS! ICE GESTAPO ARE ARRESTED PEOPLE WITH NO CRIMINAL HISTORIES! PREVENTING DUE PROCESS! THIS IS NOT WHO WE ARE AS A NATION!****
— ICE keeps mayor, police in dark about violent arrest of Guatemalan immigrant by Gerardo Beltran Salinas, Eleonora Bianchi and Anastasia E. Lennon, The New Bedford Light: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement gave “misleading” and “last-minute” information to city law enforcement and has not responded to the city’s requests for more information about the violent arrest of a New Bedford immigrant this week, according to Mayor Jon Mitchell. Juan Francisco Méndez, 29, an immigrant from Guatemala with no Massachusetts criminal record was arrested on Monday.”
excerpt: Juan Francisco Méndez, 29, an immigrant from Guatemala with no Massachusetts criminal record was arrested on Monday. Federal agents shattered his car window with an ax while he and his wife were inside waiting for their lawyer to arrive. The incident has drawn national attention and sparked strong responses, including support, outrage and condemnation.
“You watch a video like that and you say well what’s really going on there … why is this person being arrested this way?” Mitchell told reporters at City Hall. “The problem we have is that we just don’t get good information out of ICE, information that I think the residents in our city are entitled to.” Méndez, who is currently being held at Strafford County House of Corrections in New Hampshire, has been in the United States for two years. He is undocumented and pursuing an adjustment of his immigration status, according to his attorney, Ondine Gálvez. His wife, Marilú Domingo Ortiz, is a beneficiary of an asylum program. They are the parents of one child. Mitchell said the public needs to hear directly from ICE whether Méndez has a criminal history. “We hear the Trump administration say that they’re prioritizing convicted criminals. I’ll be the first to say I want criminals removed from the streets of New Bedford,” Mitchell said. “But it should matter to everybody if these people are not criminals and they’re being detained because their identity is mistaken, that they are still adjudicating their immigration status and are waiting for a hearing.” Méndez spoke to The Light from the correctional facility on Wednesday by phone.
“We are not criminals. We are hardworking people who came here to fight for our families and for a better future,” he said. He said the only time he was treated badly was during his arrest, and that he’s with 30 to 40 other people who are also detained for immigration reasons. He said he has since been asked by federal officials if he wants to return to Guatemala, to which he replied no. He has a court hearing next month in Massachusetts, he told The Light. The incident began Monday morning when federal agents’ cars blocked in Méndez and his wife on Tallman Street, The Light previously reported. Armed men wearing green bulletproof vests ordered them to get out of the vehicle. They told the officers that they would comply once their lawyer arrived, who was on her way to the scene. Undocumented immigrants, like American citizens, have the right to due process and protection from unreasonable search and seizure. Some pay income, sales and local property taxes. In Massachusetts, undocumented immigrants can also get a driver’s license. Per the American Civil Liberties Union Massachusetts, if a driver is stopped by law enforcement, they should turn off the car, open the window partly, and place their hands on the steering wheel. The video shows that Méndez put his hands on the steering wheel at one point. Upon request, anyone stopped should show police their driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance. If an immigration agent asks to search the car or one’s belongings, immigrants have the right to say no. Agents do not have the right to search without either consent or probable cause that a crime has been committed. Both drivers and passengers have the right to remain silent. Immigration lawyers say ICE officers might not always follow protocol, which makes it more critical for immigrants to know and assert their legal protections. If immigrants believe their rights have been violated, they can file a complaint with the appropriate agency.
Corinn Williams, director at the city’s Community Economic Development Center, was on the scene Monday and said New Bedford police were not receptive to taking a complaint or report over what Williams and others report was a violent arrest. “I’m sorry that it happened. There’s not too much we can do here,” one New Bedford responding officer told advocates and Méndez’s attorney, Gálvez, on Monday, after Méndez was taken away. The officer ultimately took down a report for the vehicle damage after Gálvez and others on the scene said a report is necessary for insurance claims. The Light has requested the report. Mitchell, a former federal prosecutor, said ICE appears to have broken from a long-standing practice of alerting the city’s police department ahead of planned operations, which he said poses safety risks to officers, ICE agents, and the public. It may also limit local law enforcement from helping to de-escalate “tense” situations such as the arrest of Méndez – in which ICE provided New Bedford police with the wrong street address, Mitchell said. NBPD spokesperson Holly Huntoon confirmed this, stating the department received a call from ICE on Monday morning “during its activity in the North End.” Huntoon said ICE communicated it was conducting an operation near an address on Deane Street, which is about a two-minute drive from Tallman Street. “The communication [from ICE] has been inconsistent” since the beginning of the Trump administration in the level of detail and amount of notice given, Mitchell said. At the start of the year, the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association released a “legal advisory” making clear that under state law established in a 2017 ruling, local authorities have no power to arrest or detain people for federal immigration enforcement, The Light previously reported. However, state law does not ban all forms of cooperation with immigration enforcement. Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux and New Bedford Police Chief Paul Oliveira previously said they are willing to provide information to ICE, if requested. Oliveira also said he would not prevent police officers from volunteering information to ICE. At least 15 people have been detained by federal agents in New Bedford since Jan. 20, the day President Donald Trump took office.
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